Dragon Heart
by Madeline Cullen
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia joins Fairy Tail after meeting a dragon slayer, Natsu. What he doesn't know is that she isn't just any celestial spirit mage, she is the Celestial Dragon Slayer.
1. Chapter 1

When I was four, I really didn't think much of the magic tutor my mother chose for me, I just shrugged it off with a smile and agreed to it. Of course, I had to ask my mom why she couldn't teach me, but she just shook her head all the time and said that she would tell me when I was older.

At the time, Papa was far too busy with his business to really do anything but nod at any request Mother made, even if he did disapprove of me getting involved with magic—after all, he was thinking of how he was going to get me to squeeze out a male heir, even back then.

But when my tutor actually showed up, I somehow managed to get stunned.

It had started out normal, but of course, I was four, and completely excited that my momma thought I was mature enough to start learning _magic!_ I bounced around the house in my pink dress, scaring the daylights out of all of the housekeepers, making them think I was going to rip my dress.

I had been in my toy room—a large space lines with shelves that overflowed with toys and dollies, and frilly pink curtains and equally pastel pink walls. I had been playing with a little dolly Mother had made me of Aquarius and Cancer, a music lacrima playing a soft lullaby in the background.

Then, when a maid came to fetch me, I practically vibrated in place before setting off with her to the foyer. I was honestly going to learn magic!

As we made that final turn, I thought a million things. Would my tutor be nice? Would they teach me super cool magic? Would I be able to join a guild one day? What kind of magic was I going to learn? Fire? Ice Make? Re-equip? Thunder?

It was just endless question upon endless question!

My thoughts at that point floated back down to earth once my hyperactive mind registered the fact that there were two people waiting in the foyer.

My mother stood perfectly straight, her hair pretty blond hair done up, in a big red dress and a daisy's stem weaved into her bun which made her chocolate eyes pop out that much more with youth. At the time, Mother was perfectly fine to me, but now that I'm older, I remember the little details, how even back then she seemed a bit ill, and I suppose in hindsight, that was why she didn't really teach me magic herself.

Next to her, stood who I thought was my tutor.

All that my mind registered at that point was, "She's _scary_."

Had I ever informed her what I first thought she would have burst out laughing then bumped my head with her fist.

She stood tall, wearing a green top that buttoned over her large breasts but then opened up right beneath them and exposed her midriff and flopped around down to the tops of her hips, where a pair of dark gray pants started and then tied off below her knees.

She had pale orange hair that shone like moonlight, and large amber eyes set in a black sclera. But her most stunning feature of all was the spattered, scale-like pattern all over her body and the black lines that went right down the middle of her eyes.

"Lucy!" called Mother, and then turned to me and beckoned me forward. At this point, my future teacher turned to me and flashed a grin at me, revealing pointy canines. "Come here and meet your new tutor!"

I glanced at my mother, my bangs flopping over one of my eyes. As I walked forward, I brushed them away. When I was about a meter away from the lady, I looked up at her.

"Hello, my name is Lucy Heartfilia!" I said while giving a curtsy, just how Mother had taught me.

The lady's grin widened and she said in a low, sultry growl, "Hey, Lucy, my name is Stelliana. I'm your new teacher!"

* * *

I never suspected anything, Stelliana was just Stelliana.

When she took me out for our first lesson, I learned that she was proficient in Celestial Magic of all kinds: Celestial Body Magic, Celestial Spirit Summoning and a couple more things that I didn't even know the meaning of.

When we said goodbye to my mother, I felt a surge of melancholy rip through me as I trudged behind my teacher. Sure, earlier I had felt excitement at the idea of learning magic, but once Stelliana told me that it wasn't safe for Mother to watch, I got a bit scared and sad that she wouldn't be there to cheer me on.

It was somewhere in my sad mood that a hand landed on my head. I immediately looked up and saw the smiling face of my teacher.

"Cheer up, Lu-tan!" she said, her eyes crinkling in a smile.

I couldn't help it, something about her smile made me want to smile too. So I wiped whatever tears were coming down my face and nodded as we continued our trek up into the mountains of the family estate.

The seventh of July wasn't really a great day for me. I remember that we had been having a weeklong finishing camp, and that I wasn't to go home for that reason. July sixth she had patted my hair and handed me a rock and found her own.

She gave me one of her ferocious grins and said, "Lu-tan, this rock is part of a planet, a celestial entity, eating it gives a wizard like you great power, it refuels you."

At that point, my little ten-year-old mind was going haywire, "But, Stelliana, it's a rock! Won't my teeth break on it?"

At that point, she bit her lip, her eyes bulging, then rocked backwards and burst out into a bellowing laugh, pounding the earth with her fist and holding her stomach as she rolled around in mirth.

I might have felt sorry for the earth if it weren't for the irritation that coursed through my body.

I closed my eyes and waited.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Then I burst, "ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH! WHAT STUPID COMMENT DID I MAKE THIS TIME?"

Stelliana froze at that point then looked at me.

She grinned and rolled her eyes at me, then took a giant bite out of the rock, opened her mouth and gave a slight burp. It was in the moment in which she clenched her fist and bopped it into the ground that I felt the outrageous surge in magical energy that I figured out what had happened.

The earth cracked and crumbled beneath her fist, creating a huge fissure in the ground that left dust particles floating around.

Clicking things together, I opened my mouth and let the dust enter it, and felt a tiny fluttering in my body when it touched the moist surface of my tongue.

I then looked at the rock that Stelliana was holding hungrily and took a huge bite out of it just like her.

It was then that I discovered that earth and celestial entities tasted delicious.

* * *

Father didn't really like that new preference. The next day, when I woke up and pushed away breakfast then asked the cook to bring me the nearest potted plant, I about gave my father a heart attack.

It really didn't compare half as much as the look on his place when I scooped the gritty dirt of the plant –which was dripping from being watered that morning—opened my mouth wide and took a giant lick of the dirt.

When I finished my meal, I just gave my dad a black-toothed grin and asked him why he looked so funny.

I really didn't ever hear the end of that; mother and father had a huge argument that day about Stelliana and how they were going to fire her.

I must have been dense to not see it. Stelliana taught me everything she could and taught me the names of all her moves. For six years, I had been taught moves that clearly yelled what she was, but I never asked why.

But on the seventh of July, in the year X777, she disappeared.

I was ten when Stelliana disappeared, the day after she confessed to me exactly what type of magic she had taught me and told me what she was.

I had learned Celestial Dragon Slayer Magic.

Stelliana the Celestial Dragon.


	2. Chapter 2

On July seventh, of the year X777, Stelliana disappeared from my life, leaving me only with the knowledge that she had trained me to be a dragon slayer.

That day really didn't get any better from there on out.

After searching for a good three hours for my dragon teacher, I turned around and went back home, worried to the core. Stelliana had never been even a minute late to her lessons with me, so why would it have happened then, after she had dumped such a huge piece of information in my lap?

It just didn't make any sense!

But then a disconcerting thought entered my mind: Did she switch into her dragon form and leave me all alone in the world?

* * *

_Stelliana had told me, along with the news of being a dragon slayer, that she had two forms; a dragon form and a semi-human form. It was a sub-type of transformation magic that only few non-elemental dragons could master. She didn't give me the specifics of it, just grinned toothily at me and told me that if I ever pissed her off enough where she exploded into her dragon form, she would chomp my head off. _

_I had just scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Liar," I had told her. "You love me too much to do that."_

_Maybe I should have examined her more in that moment and realized that when I turned back around there was this vacant look in her dark eyes as she picked at a loose seam in her pants, "Yeah, I love you, Lu-tan, like a son." _

"_What the heck do you mean like a son?" I yelled, jumping up to my feet and pointing an accusatory finger at her. _

_She stuck her tongue out at me, "You're not feminine enough to be a girl, so from now on you're my son!"_

_I kind of deflated a bit at that, unable to respond for a while, then I remember I just plopped back down to sit down with my legs crossed, and muttered, "If I'm your son, then you're my father."_

_I felt a comforting hand on my head, rubbing it. When I looked up, I saw Stelliana grinning once more, that sad look having left. "Aw, I'm am so honored to be the father of the great dragon slayer, Lucy Heartfilia!"_

_Which once more set me off as she let me tackle her to the ground._

_We just horse played that day._

* * *

So I just trekked back through the foliage, munching on a rock the entire time. I frowned and patted the keys I had on my belt. Mother had given them to me years prior to then, but I really hadn't trained with my spirits all too much.

While I chewed, I thought of a new training regimen for my spirits. I must have been too deep in thought for my enhanced hearing to not catch the sound of panic in my house. But when I did, my eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as I sped up, my shoes scuffing up a small cloud of dirt as I jogged.

I remember that day all too clearly.

It was the day after father got into a huge fight with mother about firing Stelliana as my teacher, it was the day after I found out I was a dragon slayer.

It was the day that both my teacher and mother disappeared from my life from that point on.

On July seventh, in the year X777, Layla Heartfilia—my mother—died.

* * *

From that day on, I took to spending as little time at home as possible. Home became a hauntingly lonely place without a warm spirit like Mama to keep it lively and feeling, well, home-like.

And I knew.

Father blamed me.

He never told me so, never did anything to even incline that he thought of me any different, but I knew deep down that he blamed me for the death of his wife. It was in the cold aura he exuded, and I could sense it, even at ten, how he lurked around the house without the same charisma as when Mama was alive. It was something only a daughter could know about her father.

His grief, at that point in time, forced him to delve into his work deeper than he ever had in his life.

My grief drove me to train harder and faster, to be someone who both Stelliana and Mama would be proud of.

I called Mother "Mama" from that point on. Mama was something that I used to call her when I was much smaller and was scared.

I guess calling her Mama again was my way I telling her, wherever she was, that I was scared and alone in this huge world with neither her nor Stelliana there to help me up when I fell or soothe my scrapes and tears.

But that's why I trained.

The staff of the house got concerned when I would leave the house early in the morning and not come back till long after the sun went down. I was relentless in my training, only relaxing when my body absolutely refused to move.

I thought I was improving by heaps and jumps.

It was the least I could do.

It was a cold winter morning when I stepped in. It was one of those days where I forgot to put on my dress before traipsing around the room in my skirt.

I was trudging to the kitchen, beating and battered from a hard day's work, when father stepped into the same hallway as me.

Looking back on it, I can laugh a little. We were standing in a hallway that was completely decked out in portraits of my family, of Mama's celestial spirits, it was the one place in our house that still had felt warm after Mama died and Stelliana disappeared.

Father looked at me, his blonde mustache sort of twitching as his eyes drifted down my body. When they landed on my less then covered legs, I saw his face turn purple and a vein throb in his forehead.

"Just what are you wearing, young lady?" he asked with a stone cold anger.

I puffed up a bit, indignantly. Who was he to start taking a sudden interest in my life?

"Clothes," I responded, aiming a glare at him and pursing my lips. I crossed my arms over my chest and made to turn around.

"Well, put on some clothes more befitting a _lady_ and not some slovenly wizard, young lady," he said gruffly and made to turn away, but then turned back and growled, "After all, how am I supposed to find you a husband if you parade around like some uncivilized barbarian?"

I stood there for a while after he left, the air completely leaving my lungs.

How could he say that? His _wife_ was a wizard!

That day, I gathered a bag and left my house for a long while, in rebellion of my father. I was ten and knew only what Mama and Stelliana had told me about it, so I just trekked back to the little plain I used to train with Stelliana in.

I threw my bag on the ground and collapsed against the tree she had always leaned against when she was teasing me. My hands clenched the rough bark until my fingers bled as hot, boiling tears ran down my flushed face.

"I need you both," I cried brokenly, sobbing. "I need you both, please come back to me!"

* * *

The first time I ran away from home was for two months after the incident with my father. I came home after two months.

I had my reasons.

It was five years after that I ran away again. But this time, it was permanently.

I trained with the three gold keys at my disposal, Aquarius, Cancer and Taurus, which I inherited from Mama, and purchased silver keys all around Fiore.

Which was what had brought me to the port town of Hargeon, a key that I had been looking for after Stelliana and Mama had both regaled the benefits of having the little being in their possession at one point or another.

I was rather, I guess you could say, angry as I walked out of a magic store plainly named "Magic Store 3ZX3," I had to fork over nineteen thousand jewel over for the key, after propping up my breasts and exuding as much sex appeal as possibly to the rather old "gentleman."

The frown on my face deepened, then I turned around and smashed my foot into a nearby café sign, sending it rocketing up in the distance, leaving crumbled remains behind. "THAT STINGY IDIOT!"

Then suddenly, I heard people—or rather, women—yelling and swooning with loud keening 'KYAAAAAH!'s. I shifted my black scale key holder and adjusted my backpack a little bit before following the commotion, muttering about how the stupid fangirls were hurting my ears.

I guess that my short temper could be attributed to Stelliana's training, it was a given, seeing how much she had teased me. I _was_ her "son" after all.

I quirked an eyebrow up when I heard, "A famous Mage-sama is in town!"

And screams about a "Salamander-sama."

My mind went blank for a second, wondering who the hell they were talking about, when I realized—it was the mage that controlled fire!

I took off as fast as I could; kicking up a cloud of dust behind me then dived straight into the crowd of drooling girls.

When I saw him, though, I came down my high horse for a bit as my heart started thumping erratically.

_What the hell is this?_ I thought, feeling a strange tingling sensation in my stomach.

I'm kind of ashamed to say it now, but I sort of started fangirling myself, clasping my hands in front of me and wiggling around like a limp noodle with all the other bimbos.

The guy that was in front of us wasn't even remotely hot, with spiked up hair and pretentious clothes. He didn't even have any indication of being a mage even, except for the rabid crowd of fangirls.

But then, a kid around my age popped up under the legs of some women yelling, "Igneel! Igneel!" with a huge, childish grin on his face and a blue cat with a little bandana around it's neck.

Immediately, my spell broke and my heart calmed, all the foreign feelings leaving my body.

The kid's face seemed to fall as he saw the guy, and I scowled at the "Salamander" guy as I realize what he had done to me. Charm spell.

What an asshole.

The kid frowned at the guy too, no longer yelling for Igneel and his cat standing on it's hind legs next to him. "Who the hell are you?" he asked, his eyes narrowed so much in a glare that they looked like squinty little lines on his face.

The asshole smirked and gave a lecherous look, "Maybe you know me as _Salamander._"

But the kid with the spiky pink hair and his cat were already leaving. I sneaked out of the throng of swooning women and followed him out, shaking my head at the asshole's arrogant face.

But then the vicious fangirl's whipped around and grabbed the kid by his scarf yelling curses and demanding he apologize to "Salamander-sama."

I turned on my heel, clenching my fists and ready to jump in if the kid couldn't get out on his own.

I doubt he was a mage; he looked…a bit too dense to be one.

"That's enough, girls," Asshole said, winking. Now that I paid attention, he even _smelled_ like a crusty asshole. Or maybe it was just his "cologne" that was offending my sensitive nostrils. "He didn't really mean it, either."

Then Asshole took out a paper and pen and signed "Salamander" on it, with little arrows. I sighed.

The pink hair kid gave Asshole a "What the hell?" face and simply said, "I don't want it.

Which was when the rabid fangirls kicked him far away. He landed near me and the cat, who I hadn't really realized had been standing next to me.

"Son of a bitch," the spiky haired kid mumbled, pushing himself up from the floor.

"Tell me about it," I muttered, extending a hand. "There can't be many assholes out their that both act and smell like that trash."

The kid only gave me a sideways look, raising an eyebrow.

I twitched and put my hands on my hips instead, mildly miffed that he didn't take my hand.

What, was it a crime to have a lowly female try to give you a hand?

"Anyways, thanks for earlier!" I said, trying to be the bigger person. "Why don't I invite you to eat?"

Sadly for me, that was one of the best and worst decisions I ever made.

Best because that was the day I met Natsu and his blue cat, Happy and he took me to Fairy Tail.

It was one of the worst, because they about sucked me dry of money eating like pigs.

* * *

Food sloshed all over the place, specks of it landing on my place as Natsu destroyed hamburgers, fries, soda, noodles, breadsticks, chicken, every single _damn_ thing that was on the table.

I simply nibbled on the little rock I had hidden in a hanker chief, not really in the mood to duke it out with Natsu over the small plate of roasted mixed vegetables I had ordered, which he had long ago devoured when it came.

He destroyed all the food while grumbling, "Yhuurr ah naiz burzoon!"

And the cat, the cat freaking spoke, "Yhup, Yhup," smothering a fish in it's mouth.

"It's no problem," I smiled. "Thanks to you guys, the charm wore off! I'm a mage too, actually!"

I guess it was sort of useless, cause I just kind of segued into a rant on the Asshole while they proceeded to consume the contents of the whole table.

There was a bout of silence—while Natsu and Happy continued to eat the food and lick the remaining meat off of bones and suck the marrow out of them, yuck—in which I completely shattered by beginning my one-woman advertisement on my favorite guild, while evading saying it's name!

They just kind of looked blankly at me, the cat saying, "You talk a lot."

I shrugged it off and asked, "By the way, aren't you guys looking for someone…?"

The cat nodded and said enthusiastically, "Aye! It's Igneel!"

Natsu turned to Happy with a downtrodden face, "I heard that Salamander was coming to this town, so we came, but it was the wrong person.

"This Salamander didn't look like a Salamander," Happy added, having finished his fish.

"I totally believed that it was Igneel, too!" Natsu said, bumping his fist on the table.

A light went off in my head. "A human that looks like a Salamander?"

Natsu then poked his head up and looked at me like I was the most stupid person on earth, "Hrmm? He's not human. Igneel is a real dragon."

A beat of silence.

They knew a real dragon?

Like Stelliana.

I scrambled to cover myself and instead yelled, "There is no way that a fully realized, transformed dragon would be in this small town!"

They looked at my blankly, halfway to a rebuttal, as if they just realized that a giant _dragon_ would be all to conspicuous in such a tiny port town.

"Don't tell me you just realized it!"

After my bout of yelling, I came down from my lecturing pedestal and got up from the table, slapping down some bills on the table to pay for their meal. I slipped on my bag, "I guess I better get going…but you guys go ahead and take your time."

I was already about to walk out the door when I heard a quick thump and loud exclamations of "Thank you for the meal!" from both idiots.

I shook my head freaked out and ran out of there; shouting over my shoulder, "Don't worry! You helped me out, too! So we're even now!"

As I sprinted out of the restaurant, I couldn't help but think darkly, that I doubted Natsu was going to find his Igneel.

Just as I never found Stelliana.

* * *

That night, I found myself on a yacht of the Asshole, how I had found myself on it was an embarrassing story I rather not say, but I was there and that was the end of it.

It turned out that Crusty Asshole was actually from Fairy Tail, which I thought was a bit suspicious.

Then he tried to drug me.

Thankfully for me, dragon senses were enhanced so that I could smell the alcohol, though it was almost overrun by Crusty Asshole's unclean butt scent.

If only father had been there to listen to my vocabulary, I bet he would have had a coronary.

I smashed away the sleeping drug and got up, asking Crusty Asshole from Fairy Tail what the hell he thought he was doing.

He only gave a lecherous smirk and said, "You're a bad girl. If you just were to sleep peacefully, you wouldn't have to get hurt…"

"Eh?" I said in a clueless manner, turning to look around at the men who were gripping my arms.

Sweaty smelling thugs were gripping me and licking their lips, "We haven't had such a pretty one for a while, boss" they said in one way or another.

"Who the hell are you?" I yelled, gathering my magic into my chest to prepare a magical retaliation.

"Welcome to our slave ship. I must ask you to remain silent until we get to Bosco, Lady."

I didn't give him time to finish, because I whipped out of the thugs hands burning them with the Celestial Light of Sirius, landing on my hands and feet on the ground, snarling at the pretentious thugs.

Before I could do anything though, a pink blur crashed in through the ceiling of the Yacht, landing directly on Crusty Lecherous Asshole.

"The Brat from earlier!" Asshole yelled, rolling out from under him.

I expected Natsu to do something heroic, something that would match up to his great entrance.

Instead, he just kind of collapsed and looked like he was going to hurl.

I blew up, "WHY THE HELL DO YOU COME ON A SHIP LIKE THAT IF YOU'RE JUST GONNA BE PATHETIC LIKE THAT?"

"Lucy?" I looked up and saw Happy flying up in the starry night. Before I could say anything, he had dived down and taken me away where his wings popped out of existence and dropped me into the ocean.

I muttered curses, reaching for my keys and pulling out Aquarius' key. I reached over and grabbed Happy's tail—who was floating by with the current—and placed him on my head so he wouldn't get swept away.

After all, Aquarius, though she saved my ass time and time again, and was still considered my friend, was an eternal bitch when I summoned her for anything other than boyfriend advice.

"Open, door to the Treasure Vase Palace! Aquarius!"

Happy merely started babbling about fish when Aquarius appeared, giving me a foul look. I knew what was coming so I pulled Happy down and hugged him tightly to my chest as Aquarius did what she was known for, hurled her vase through the air in her hands and sent both the ship and me hurling back to the coast without even a word exchanged between us.

I spat out the sand that was in my mouth and pushed myself up from the ground, "Great work Aquarius," I said grudgingly. "Now go back on vacation with Scorpio. Close, gate of the Water Bearer!"

Sometime between that, Natsu had reared up, taking off his coat, "You say you're from Fairy Tail, right?" he muttered to Crusty Lecherous Asshole. "Let me take a good look at you!"

Happy, next to me, said matter-of-factly, "I forgot to tell you, Lucy, Natsu is a mage too!"

"Whaaa?" I asked, looking at Happy.

And then Natsu smashed his palm into the face of the thugs, snarling, "I'm Natsu from Fairy Tail! And I've never seen you before!"

"Fairy Tail!" I gasped, gob smacked, seawater running down my face from my wet hair. "Natsu is a mage from Fairy Tail?"

A completely different aura from before then enveloped Natsu, positively vicious, and only one I had seen once before—in Stelliana.

"I don't give damn if you're a bastard or a good person, but I can't forgive you for using our name!"

But then, the guy whose thugs exposed as "Bora," sent a huge spiraling cylinder of yucky purple fire at Natsu.

And then Natsu did something that completely exposed himself to me.

He ate the purple flames while saying, "What is this? Are you really a fire mage? I've never tasted such awful fire!"

The dragon searching. The motion sickness. Eating flames.

"Thank you for the food," Natsu said, while smoke rose up around him while he wiped his mouth.

"Fire! Did he just eat fire?"

"Fire won't work on Natsu," Happy said looking up with a blank smile on his face.

And then Natsu took on a stance and was enveloped in a curtain of fire, "Now that I've eaten, I can feel my power! HERE I COME!"

And then he reared his head back, filling his lungs full of air in a very familiar attack.

Natsu then released a spiraling vortex of fire from his mouth, the Fire Dragon's Roar, knocking Crusty Lecherous Asshole far away.

"Dragon's lungs spew flames, it's scales melt flames, and it's nails are dressed with flames. This is an ancient spell that converts the body to a dragon's constitution. It's dragon slayer magic. Igneel taught Natsu this."

I nodded seriously, having figured as much. But I couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed, seeing shrapnel and debris going all over the place.

"You freaking idiot, NATSU YOU'RE OVERDOING IT!"

At least Bora was completely knocked out but then the military ran in asking questions all over the place, stomping on the cobbled floors and kicking crumbled stuff out of their way.

At which point, I guess Natsu realized what a mess he had made of the town, yanked me up by the arm and pulled me along with him, "Crap! Let's run!"

"What? Why me?" I asked, chucking off my heels and running along beside him, keeping up flawlessly, trying to resist the urge to open my mouth and taste the delicious looking dust that floated around.

"You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail, right? Then come with me!" he said, giving a giant childish grin that just pulled on my dragon heartstrings.

I smiled and said "Okay!"

That was the day that I met Natsu and Happy, and the day that they both carted me off to what would become my new home. Fairy Tail.

My next challenge would then be, how to tell Natsu that I was a dragon slayer as well.


	3. Chapter 3

It was mind numbing, trying to figure out how to tell Natsu that I was a dragon slayer too.

A part of me was wondering what the hell was my problem, exposing myself like that and giving up such precious information to an unknown.

The other part of me, the dragon, just wanted another companion to console in.

Because Natsu was a dragon slayer, he would be able to understand more than anyone how it felt to lose a dragon. He would be able to understand all the troubles I had gone through in my life because I was a dragon slayer, and all the uppity people that thought that because they were oh-so powerful; they would display their superiority by defeating a dragon slayer.

I had one word for those people: assholes.

As we walked to Fairy Tail—since Natsu suffered from motion sickness, and I just had recently started getting woozy while on the fast moving things—we talked a bit. He told me about Igneel, his father, and how his search for him had gone.

Needless to say, his search amounted to absolute shit, just as I predicted.

I shook my head and the thoughts away, there was no use getting depressed when a new beginning was dawning on me.

Natsu was all grins and happy smiles as he pulled me along, Happy perched peacefully on my head, having found another fish to munch on; from where though, I had no freaking idea.

I adjusted my pack every once in a while, nodding at Natsu, and smiling along with him. It was kind of impossible not to smile with him. He had this goofball, all encompassing warmth around him that just made me smile with him, even if he was saying something utterly stupid.

He was silly, in a cute way.

When we finally arrived at Fairy Tail, I looked up at the huge guild. It had the Fairy Tail insignia high up on a banner attached to the third floor and a giant sign with the guild name on it had two fairies with tails on either side of it.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Happy and Natsu both exclaimed, holding the arms out with big grins on their faces.

I gave them my own smile, grabbing them both by the hand and dragging them in.

But what I saw inside was not what I was expecting.

Not at all.

Natsu seemed to have gotten mad again, all of a sudden, and just stomped on in like it was nobody's business, shouting, "We're home!" and then proceeded to smash his foot into the face of a mage yelling some more, "BASTARD! THAT INFORMATION YOU GAVE ME ABOUT THAT SALAMANDER WAS FAKE!"

I stood to the side, a bit disgruntled as an all out brawl started in the bar area of the guild.

"So this is Fairy Tail, huh?" I sighed. "After seeing Natsu, I couldn't expect anything less."

Next to me, a boy with black hair and black eyes popped up from his seat, rosary swing, and half naked, "Did you say Natsu is back! Hey…let's settle our fight from the other time! Punk!"

And from there on it just kept on deteriorating. I sighed again and took a seat up at the bar, where I thought I would be safest from the flying barstools and tables and flailing limbs.

The place honestly smelled of blood, sweat, air freshener and booze and wherever I put my hands on the counter, I could feel some sort of roughness or chip from what I assumed were all the bar fights. And the hollering and fights going on behind me weren't exactly like a chorus of angels to my sensitive ears.

I winced and hunched down in my seat, wondering what the hell I was thinking.

"My, a newcomer?" called a sweet and polite voice from behind me.

I turned around and looked to see a white hair woman with clear blue eyes and long black lashes.

"Mirajane?" I exclaimed. She was the centerfold in the magazine Sorcerer Weekly in almost every issue I owned, she was hailed all across the country as one of the most beautiful women in the world!

Then something occurred to me, I glared at the idiots behind me and jabbed my thumb at them, "Don't you have to stop them?"

She just gave me an angelic smile and said, "It happens all the time! You don't have to worry about it. And besides—"

Which was when a bottle of booze smashed into her head like some macabre glittery fairy dust.

I freaked and kneeled down next to her whipping out some cotton from my backpack to help her get back up.

"—Isn't it more fun this way?" she said, the smile having never even left her face, even as blood gushed down the gash in her forehead.

I could have face palmed right there if it weren't for the naked guy, who I assumed was Gray from all the yelling, got up right in front of me, Natsu waving his underwear around in the air like a flag.

And Gray was standing in front of me, his family jewels wiggling in front of me.

"What the fu—DON'T FACE THIS WAY! NATSU GIVE HIM BACK HIS UNDERWEAR!"

After awhile of brawling, the master came out. And he was the most gigantic, hulking person I had ever seen! I looked up at him impassively though, after he squished Natsu. "Huh? A newcomer?" he asked.

I just had to keep telling myself that I was a dragon slayer and had the biggest set of brass ovaries on the planet!

And then he shrunk right before my eyes into a robed, striped hat wearing little old man, who waved at me and said simply, with his eyes closed, "Nice to meet you."

He gave a long speech about magic, that I sort of might have snoozed a bit during, since it was kind of a lecture to the guild, the only part I really tuned into was when he said, "I mean, pouring all of your soul into whatever you do is the magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher-ups, your magic won't improve. Do not fear the fools of the council. DO WHATEVER YOU THINK IS RIGHT! THAT'S THE WAY OF THE FAIRY TAIL MAGES!"

Everyone cheered at that point, and I think even I managed to crack a smile at such a rebellious and inspiring conclusion.

Later on, Mirajane was getting my stamp ready for Fairy Tail, and I waited anxiously as she slathered on the magical ink onto the stamp.

"You want it on your hand?" she asked pleasantly. Curiously, I took a quick sniff, and found she smelled just as sweet as her voice, but with a hint of kick, like cinnamon.

"Yes, please," I replied.

And with that she stamped my hand with the mark of Fairy Tail.

"There! Now you are a part of Fairy Tail!"

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, admiring my insignia. It was pink, like Natsu's hair, and kind of pretty on my hand.

"So, what kind of magic do you use?" Mirajane asked me, flashing me another smile.

"Oh!" I scratched the back of my neck. "I'm a dragon slayer."

And that was when the whole guild went silent.

"Um, did I say something wrong?" I asked hesitantly. Natsu was a dragon slayer, so why were they so silent and creepy looking right now.

Then suddenly, I was lifted straight out of my seat and swung around in the air, "WHAT? LUCY WHY DIDN'T YOU TEEEEELLLLL MEEEEEEEE?"

I held onto his neck for dear life, "CAUSE YOU DIDN'T ASK YOU IDIOT! NOW PUT ME DOWN BEFORE I PUNCH YOU ANOTHER ASSHOLE!"

He only laughed and continued to swing me around.

When he finally put me down, I was dizzy beyond belief, and he was two inches in front of my face, his breath fanning my face. "What kind of dragon slayer are you?"

I flopped down onto the floor of the guild covering my eyes, "Ask me when the world stops spinning…" I moaned pathetically, little chickies dancing in front of my vision; they seemed so real I could practically hear them clucking and smell their downy scent.

When the world finally stopped spinning, I glared at him and said, "If you ever do that again, I swear I'll crush you're balls until they're a paste, Natsu," I muttered foully.

The color drained from his face and he went to the other side of the room, attempting to hide behind Gray.

I chuckled at bit, "I'm a Celestial Dragon Slayer, trained by the dragon Stelliana."

"So that's why you have those keys, right?" Happy inferred, jumping onto my lap. I raised my hand and petted his head.

"Pretty much," I said flashing a smile.

I laughed a bit with everyone, enjoying my time in the guild. Eventually, Natsu drifted back to my side, joining in on the conversations and adding his two cents, and slinging and arm over my shoulder, flashing the biggest grin of life as he spoke.

Then, a little kid that smelled oddly of flames, I think—and walked in and straight up to Master Makarov, his bottom lip quivering and a bit of snot dripping from his nose. He wiped his eyes as he spoke to the master.

"Please master, can you please find my daddy?" he asked innocently.

"Isn't Macao's job at Mt. Hakobe?"

The kid nodded, "It's not that far either! Please look for him! I'm worried about him!"

And then Master Makarov began shouting, "No way! Your dad is a mage! We have no mage here who can't take care of himself! Go home and drink your milk or something!"

The kid trembled there for a little bit more, then jumped up and punched the master straight in the face.

"Damn, that's strict," I muttered, then glanced down at the arm that was around my shoulder and how Natsu's fist clenched before he grabbed his stuff and started walking out of the guild.

"Master is like that, but he's worried about Macao, too," Mirajane said while carrying a pile of dishes to an open cupboard, her dress swinging in counter-movement to her hips' sway.

But I had already gotten up, ready to follow after Natsu, adjusting the straps of my top and pulling on a pack.

"The same thing happened to Natsu," Mirajane said.

I turned on my heel, frowning a bit. "Huh?"

"Maybe he saw himself in Romeo-kun," she said, wiping down a glass, a melancholic look on her face. "Natsu's father hasn't come back, ever since he left. Though by father, I meant a foster parent. And he's a dragon."

I cocked an eyebrow. I had both my parents—but Stelliana was a good stand-in for my father.

"I have a feeling that I know what they're both going through," I said while nodding. "I'm off. I gotta make sure he doesn't get himself and Happy killed."

* * *

"I'm kinda starting to understand why you get motion sickness, Natsu," I said, leaning my head back against the carriage, my stomach gurgling uncomfortably, a nasty acrid taste slithering up the back of my throat.

Across from my, Natsu was an uncomfortable shade of green and Happy was just lounging against the seat Natsu was on, looking at Natsu in a worried manner.

"Why are you here, Lucy?" they both asked at the same time.

I tensed up at that and turned away, crossing my arms. "Because you're obviously going to end up killing yourself without me here with you."

"I call bullshit," Natsu mumbled.

"Shut the hell up, you look too pathetic right now to be speaking like that," I said, closing my eyes again and setting my head back against the wood, my words holding no threat seeing how I was feeling pretty damn pathetic myself.

I opened an eye when something occurred to me. "Huh, I finally found a city to live in. I guess I should find a place to stay, right?"

"You can live with Natsu and me!" Happy added.

I looked at him and smiled a bit, "I suppose. I'll keep it on my list of options, okay?"

There was a large creaking sound as the carriage stopped, the howling winds outside ominously sounding.

And then Natsu jumped up to his feet like a freaking Jack-in-the-Box, yelling triumphantly, "It stopped!"

I had half a mind to punch his ass right back down. "We're there?"

"I'm sorry," said the carriage driver, ninety percent of his face covered in snow. "We can't go any further than this with the carriage."

"What the hell?" I asked when I opened the doors to the carriage. "It's summer, how is there a snow storm this time of year?"

And it seemed, as soon as I hopped out, I felt the air chilly tendrils of air wrapping around my navel and naked legs.

I shivered a bit then glanced at Natsu, who was wearing practically nothing, and was still looking like he was toasty warm.

I connected two and two, then calmly walked over to the Fire Dragon Slayer, grabbed his blanket and wrapped it around myself then hopped onto his back.

He reflexively held my thighs. "What the—Lucy what the hell do you think your doing?" He asked over his shoulder, black eyes aimed at me. Which reminded me of something that had once happened with Stelliana.

* * *

_I was four at the time. And Stelliana had just broken the news to me; I had to bathe in a stream naked with her. _

_I had never been nude in anyone's presence except Mama's or my maid, so to be asked to strip completely naked and jump into a bacteria filled, green stream, where baby fishes my swim into places they shouldn't swim, was completely absurd to me. _

_I looked to Stelliana, who under the shade of a tree, had already released her ample breasts from her shirt and had wiggled out of her pants and was testing the water with her toe. _

_She turned back around, grinning so much it might have broken her face, "Alright, Lu-tan! The water is just right! Now out of them clothes, and into the refreshing water!" _

_I only stared at her like she was crazy. _

"_Completely naked?" I asked hesitantly, feeling the goose flesh erupt over my skin. _

"_Yep! It's not like I'm a guy! We have the same parts, it really won't matter!" she said, giving such a brazenly honest smile that I could help but return my own shy one and start to take off my shoes and socks. _

_By the end of it, my little four-year-old body was standing on the edge of the stream, when I felt arms grab me by the waist and throw me straight into the stream._

"_KIYAAAAAH!" I screamed then smashed into the water. It's the weirdest feeling, getting thrown into water. At first, there's so much noise you didn't even notice before was there, like bird chirping, the wind running over the ground and rustling leaves and bushes, little animals pitter-pattering, and the not-so-subtle chortles of the person who threw you into the water. _

_Then, there's a sudden unsettling silence as your ears are completely covered by the water, muffing the complete clarity of hearing you had before. I won't say it's completely silent, cause you can hear water the bubbling of water and the noises that are extremely loud on land, such as the chortles of your teacher. _

_I decided to be evil in that moment and swam down to the bottom of the stream, held on to a large boulder. _

_Thirty seconds must have past in the eerily silent water while I watched a little crab make its way across the stream's bottom, when the chortles stopped and I heard a huge disturbance in the water. _

_I looked up and saw the telltale orange hair—completely alien in the blue landscape that I was surrounded in. _

_She twisted around some before her eyes honed in on me, amber eyes set in a black plain looking eerier than usual. _

_I can't really say she swam through the water, because swimming is kind of clumsy when compared to how she _sliced_ through the water. _

_It couldn't have taken Stelliana that long to get to me, wrap her scaled hand around my tiny waist and take me back up. _

_I got an earful after that, but I just took it with a smile. And when she asked me what the hell was my problem, I responded cheekily: "You're acting like a mother hen."_

_She looked at me gaping after that, her orange hair looking like an orange slice blew up on her head and sticking to her forehead, then she grinned that big, silly grin and started laughing, "I do, don't I?"_

* * *

"I don't want to force Horologium through this snow storm, and my other two spirits are unsuitable for this weather. Plus, I assumed you wouldn't mind helping a fellow dragon slayer out here," I said simply, reaching my blanket covered arms around Natsu's neck and resting them across his collar bone.

Happy, who was walking behind us, then got the picture and flew up from the ground and nestled into my hair. I pointed forward, "Onward, to save Macao!"

A beat of silence.

"You're weird," Natsu said, shaking his head.

"By the way, what the hell did Macao come up here to do?" I asked, setting my cheek against the surprisingly soft pink spikes on Natsu's head.

He grunted and started walking, "You came here without knowing that? He came to subdue the brutal monster 'Vulcan.'"

"That shouldn't be too hard then," I said into his hair, far too comfortable to even move.

I didn't even complain when he gave my thighs a weird squeeze, "Yeah, should be a piece of cake, Lucy!"

* * *

"MACAO! ARE YOU HERE! WERE YOU DONE IN BY VULCAN?" Natsu yelled. I hopped off his back when I heard rustling and hulking thumps of footsteps.

I looked up into the blizzard and saw a giant monkey-like thing flying down from the swirling mess of snowflakes.

I flipped away, landing on my haunches a few yards away from the Vulcan, taking Happy with me.

I looked up quickly, searching for Natsu, and found him in a similar position directly in front of the giant monkey, the muscles of his body rippling and tensed, ready to coil and spring an attack at the Vulcan.

Then the giant thing jumped straight over Natsu's head and directly at me.

I made to brace myself but instead found a huge wrinkly, leather-like hand gripping me around the navel and taking me away. Sadly, it smelled no better than Lecherous Crusty Asshole from Hargeon.

"A human woman!" it yelled as it ran away with me.

"NO! LUCY! CRUSH ITS BALLS INTO A PASTE!" Natsu yelled after me, Happy having escaped the giant hand.

"YOU MORON, I WAS BEING DRAMATIC THAT TIME!" I yelled right back, gathering my magic into my fist, then smacking my glowing fist onto Vulcan's back, "CELESTIAL LIGHT OF SIRIUS!"

It flailed a bit and then released me onto the ground. I could hear Natsu running to back me up. At that point, I whipped out a celestial spirit key, "Open, door to the Golden Bull Palace! Taurus!"

With a flare of light and a loud "MOOOOO!" a giant bull was standing in front of me in a speedo and belt, wielding a humongous axe.

Then Taurus turned around and ogled at me, "Lucy-san! You have nice boobs as always! Moo-re amazing than ever!"

I aimed a dark glare at Taurus, "Now's not the time Taurus, defend my honor! That perverted monkey wants my boobs! Now go!"

I had learned a long time ago, that for action to happen with Taurus, I had to make sure that I involved my "boobs" in some way.

It really made things awkward when I went on dates and yelled about a giant bull protecting my breasts.

Taurus nodded and immediately set to swinging his axe in large swooping arcs, but the stupid perverted Monket kept flailing and managing to escape.

"Dammit," I muttered, getting ready to run up behind Taurus and support him when I saw how the Vulcan kept dodging his attacks.

"WHAT? THERE ARE MORE MONSTERS NOW?" Natsu exclaimed dropkicking Taurus back into the spirit realm. I only looked at Natsu with my mouth hanging open, staring at his stupid foot.

An immeasurable anger coursed through me, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"

"To save my, Nakama, obviously. You're so weird Lucy." He responded easily. From behind him, the Vulcan was rearing its ugly head, readying a charge. I shook away any irrational anger I had from him dismissing my spirit and instead quickly made a battle plan. When I finished, I grabbed Natsu next to me. "Natsu! You can do a dragon punch right?" I asked him quickly, aiming my brown eyes at his black ones.

He jabbed his head down in a quick nod, eyes reflecting the sudden realization.

As the Vulcan ran toward us, holding Taurus' axe we reared our fists back and then released them quickly into the giant monkey's face as we jumped at him.

"CELESTIAL DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

And with that, an earth shattering punch combined with a fire punch, and completely knocked out the giant feral monkey thing.

I nodded to myself in congrats.

One less pervert in the world.

But then, the knocked out perverted monkey started to wilt in a ton of smoke and I jumped behind Natsu, weary of it.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Natsu yelled, grabbing on to me in a death grip, "THE MONKEY BECAME MACAO!"

* * *

After some very confusing conversations on take over monkeys and stuff, we managed to get Macao home to Romeo.

Which then left me in my next predicament.

"Lucy, what the hell are you doing at my house?" Natsu asked, a frown on his lips, his arms across, muscles prominent.

I was lying on his couch, my things already in a little corner of the room. "You said I could stay here, right?"

"What? When the hell did I say you could stay at my house?" he asked, his brows furrowing together.

Next to him, Happy scooted away from him slowly.

"But, I'm Nakama, right Natsu?" I asked him, getting up from my comfortable position and moving to stand right in front of him. "And we're dragon slayers. That practically makes us siblings, right?" I smiled, closing my eyes.

The next thing I knew, I was being tackle hugged by an ecstatic Natsu, his warmer than usual face pressing up to my cheek in his hug. We landed on the floor in a heap, Natsu having taken the brunt of the fall. I glanced up at him with wide eyes.

"Are you alright Natsu?"

He just flashed me the biggest smile I had ever seen in my life, a small blush on his face, "I've never had a sister!"

Next to us, Happy just looked at us in a creepily blank way and said, "He liiiiiiiiikes you."


	4. Chapter 4

The first night at Natsu's house, I think I was too tired to even look around. So I just blindly stumbled, struggling to get my pajamas out of my pack. I had to ignore the blatant smell of fart and gas that just came up off the furniture in waves.

Natsu just ambled behind me, eternally on this juiced up lacrima that never went out. Happy babbled along comfortably with him.

Even though I was unfamiliar with Natsu's house, I still managed to find the bath, so I quickly went in and started filling the bathtub. His bath was relatively plain, just an old tub, with some running water and more trees coming up through the floor and up through the ceiling.

I only stepped out for a moment, letting my hair down and taking off my clothes underneath my towel to keep my modesty.

Then I turned back around and walked into the bathhouse, fully intending to have a relaxing, refreshing hot bath.

A bath.

But as soon as I had discarded my towel and was in the water, my eyes adjusted to the steam and I saw I was not alone in the bathtub.

No, in fact, I was in there with Natsu and Happy.

He was just relaxing, with his arms thrown across the rim of the tub and a little towel across his forehead, happy was just submerged in the water, only his eyes showing.

It took a couple of seconds for my brain to finally click.

I was naked.

I was naked in a tub with a naked Natsu.

Natsu. Who was a male.

Natsu and Happy.

Males.

Not girls.

"KIYAAAAAAAH! NATSU, HAPPY GET THE HELL OUT!"

And that was the day that Natsu and Happy got a clear view of my goods.

* * *

Natsu's place was messy. That is the only possible way that I can describe his house.

There's things all over the place, trees coming up straight from the floor up through the roof, a whole wall dedicated to jobs he's done, and I think Happy does all the cooking—it's just a thought.

The day after I slept on his couch, I kicked his ass out of his house, sent him off to get some groceries—with a whopping list that would likely come to about seventy thousand jewel.

The entire day that he was out, I spent cleaning. I was up to my elbows in cleaners, detergents and soap suds, scrubbing away at the floor, washing every surface I could find, scratching at the little crusts on the plates and pans, washing the inside of his refrigerator in and out, taking out the cooling lacrima and making sure that it was spotless and in working condition.

When I finished with that, I started tidying around the stuff that he had lying all over the place. I put everything in its place and dusted all the windows and wiped down the couches. I took out the clothes and sheets and dumped them in a giant basic, pausing only a second to admire the woods and how remote the house was, before I pulled my sleeves up, wrapped my hair up with a bandana, and put my hands in the water to start scrubbing stains and dirt out of the cloth.

Sure, there were household spells that could have done everything faster, but Mama always told me that there was no substitute for hard work and that a spell would never compare to what human hands could do them selves.

Later on, Natsu came back home just as I was hanging up the clothes. He was having a conversation with Happy, it seemed, while carrying the tall order of things I had sent him out to do.

As soon as he noticed me, I called out to him, wiping the sweat off my brow, "Welcome home, Natsu, Happy!"

They kind of gaped at me, when they saw that I was doing laundry. It was kind of funny to see a pink haired mage and his blue cat staring at you slack jawed.

I got up and stretched, then followed my nose to where I smelled the delicious scent of food wafting in the air from one of the bags Natsu was carrying. I quickly jogged over to where he was, stole the bag I identified to have food and then grabbed his wrist and ushered both him and Happy back into the house.

"Luce, what the hell did you do to our house?" he asked, eyes getting even wider when he saw the glimmering surfaces and the clean lemon smell that now covered every surface.

"Isn't obvious? I cleaned!" I said, pulling out some clean plates and eating utensils and serving portions on the plates. I set aside the container that had fish in it for Happy and then plopped down on the couch with Natsu, putting his plate on his lap.

"Eat up!" I said, in the best imitation of my Mama that I could, smiling.

I don't know why, but when Natsu flashed me that huge grin of his, all of the work of the day seemed somehow worth it.

At least, until we finished eating and Happy asked me, "Lucy, where did you get the money for groceries and all this cleaning stuff?"

"Well," I said, putting a finger to my lip in thought. "I had about thirty thousand jewel left over from a job I had done before joining a guild, the rest I just took from a little safe I found last night, and I left some over for breakfast tomorrow at the guild."

At that, Natsu's jaw dropped again and he jumped to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at me, "YOU TOOK THE MONEY THAT I'VE BEEN SAVING UP?"

* * *

So, it turned out that Natsu, Happy and I were flat broke, so as soon as we woke up the next morning and got ready, we set out for the guild.

After all the years of being alone when doing jobs, I guess it was weird to have company and someone to rely on besides my spirits if I took on a job that was a bit over my head.

After all, I was a dragon slayer but I wasn't invincible.

If Stelliana had ever heard me say that she would have bopped me on the head and said that dragon slayers were only second to their dragon teachers.

I never admitted to her that on every job I went, there was some measure of anxiety and fear that boiled in my stomach, stewing there until the mission was over and I could sigh in relief.

Being on my own had taught me that no matter what life threw at me, I had to meet it head first, and take whatever fate decided to throw at me.

I bet Natsu was the same.

We were dragon slayers after all—loneliness was practically engraved into the title.

But at the same time, being a part of Fairy Tail, a Nakama, made all of that ebb away.

We entered the guild, with stomachs rumbling and gurgling, we plopped down at the bar and ordered breakfast from Mirajane. While we waited, Natsu walked up to the request board and searched for some job that would be good. After a good once over, he came back and slapped the request down in front of Happy—who was once again in my lap getting his head stroked—and me.

I leaned closer to Natsu, looking down at the request. I don't know if it was the weird scent coming off of Natsu, one that made my mouth water just a bit, or if it was the fact that some guy was offering two hundred thousand jewel to just get rid of a book.

I craned my neck up to look at Natsu, quickly scanned the permanent grin that was glue to his face in addition to the determined face.

"We can totally to this one, Luce!" he said, punctuated by Happy's "Aye, sir!"

I only gave them my own determined grin, "Totally."

* * *

Soon enough, we found ourselves on another carriage; Natsu curled over with his cheeks puffed out and his face green about to throw up, while Happy happily curled up next to me looking between both of us.

Honestly, I had never gotten motion sick, but I was starting to think I was developing it.

"Natsu, I swear, if motion sickness is contagious, I will kick you so hard…" I mumbled, not even finishing the rest.

At least it wasn't as bad as Natsu's.

His arm wobbled up—index finger waving in the air, probably to complain about my comment, but it flopped back down on the floor of the carriage, palm first.

"So, Natsu, how are we going to do this?"

"Nnnnghh," he moaned from the floor, his cheeks puffing out.

My nose crinkled, practically smelling the bile that was bubbling up to the back of his throat.

"Well," Happy answered instead. "We had thought that since you blonde and are pretty that you should dress up as a maid!"

"Huh? Why a maid?" I asked, putting my hand on my stomach and aiming my eyes down on Happy's little form.

"Because the guy we're stealing the book from wants to hire a blonde maid, aye!" he said, swatting at a bug that was in front of his face.

"Okay then, I just have to sneak into the mansion and get one book right?" I confirmed, propping my feet up on the carriage seat and lying down on it.

"To the perverted old fart's mansion," Happy correct, jumping up on my stomach.

I coughed a bit, somewhat scared that I might vomit. "Yup, the perverted old fart."

I waited a second, considered striking a sexy pose then thought better of it. "I'm pretty confident in my sexiness, you know," I stated rather blandly, feeling my face heat up. I threw a hand over my eyes.

After all, they would know.

"Nnngh, L-Luce s-s-says she's…sexy…ha ha…" Natsu mumbled pathetically.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

* * *

After a while of painstaking conversation with a cat and motion-sick Natsu, we finally made it to Shirotsume town.

It was a quaint little town with trees and houses and a cute little road that led into a valley where more of the town could be seen nestled in between the mountains.

I shook off any nausea as soon as I hopped off, while Natsu wiped away his cold sweat, shaking.

Heaving my pack up to my shoulder, I grabbed Natsu's hand and just started walking in a random direction.

I had taken a couple large steps when Natsu finally gained his bearings and asked me, "Lucy, do you even know where we're going?"

"Nope."

"You are so weird, Luce. Come on, food is _this_ way!"

"Natsu, shouldn't we find a hotel first though," Happy interjected, while I stuck my tongue out at Natsu.

He quickly stuck his own pink tongue out at me and pulled down his eyelid before agreeing with Happy, and then tugging _my_ hand in the direction of the hotel.

And I don't know why, but when I noticed he was holding my hand, my stomach kind of did this weird flip.

Maybe after all these years, I was getting indigestion from all the rocks I constantly ate.

* * *

After a while, I sent Natsu and Happy off, so I could run around town looking for stuff.

I wasn't too much of a fan of shopping, seeing as when I was little I really didn't do much of it, it was my maids. But since being on my own, I had to rough it and actually buy myself stuff or risk running my missions stark naked.

But I didn't ever really go overboard. Some would say I was constantly underdressed.

I guess I kind of mimicked Stelliana's way of dressing. I wore a little spaghetti-strap shirt that left my smooth stomach out, but still had extra fabric to flop down to the bottom of my hips, and a nice little skirt. Sometimes I wore a half-jacket with it, but usually only when it was really cold.

Today, it was just the top, skirt and shoes.

And of course, the black dragon-scale belt I had for my celestial spirit keys.

I wandered around the stores for a little bit until something caught my eye.

I ran into a costume shop and looked around, at one point staring at a giant pink mustache and imagining it on Natsu.

Needless to say, I burst out laughing and the shopkeeper looked at me as if I had lost a little bit more than just my marbles.

Then, I found the perfect outfit. It was small, it was risqué, and it put my goods out there, it was sure to show off my feminine wiles to the perverted old fart!

I snatched it off the rack in my size, paid for it than went into the stall to change—when I came out, I struck a pose, just for myself!

"I look _good!"_ I said to the mirror, pouting and thrusting my rear out, and switching poses every once in a while. "When Natsu sees this, there'll be no way that he'll be able to deny my sexiness! Oh yeah!"

Sadly, I underestimated Natsu, something not even his friends were ever allowed to do.

When the table came up, I saw Natsu and Happy, slurping, chomping and overall devouring the food in front of them as if they had been starved for days on end when the reality was that we had eaten breakfast only a few hours ago.

I strutted up to them and was ready to strike a pose when I heard Natsu say, while ripping off a piece of bread with his teeth, "Let's keep the oily ones for Lucy."

"She does look like she loves oily stuff!"

"Since when do I love oily food…? Ugh…" I mumbled, smacking my forehead, then noticed that they had shifted around in their chairs to look at me, so I pushed my tush out, my breasts up and out and light bit the tip of one of my fingers, "After all, I look good in anything."

Then I clasped my hands and got up super close to Natsu and asked him. "How is you meal, sir? If you're still working on it, please take your time!" I smiled at the end, tilting my head to the side.

My eyes closed for one moment, then I caught Happy and Natsu in the corner of the table, stage whispering, "Oh no—! I was joking, but she took the maid idea seriously!"

"We can't really tell her is was a joke any more. L-let's just do it!" Natsu replied, nodding in with Happy.

"I FREAKING HEARD THAT!"

* * *

To say that the Duke of Everlue's mansion was huge, would be a severe understatement. I could fit at least twenty of Natsu and Happy's house inside of his mansion and still have had room for a pool, private spa and some training rooms.

Next to me, Natsu plotted, trying to come up with a game plan while I rearranged my cleavage and jiggled them into place.

"L-Luce, c-can you please stop doing that?" Natsu asked, averting his eyes.

I sniffed and looked at him, "Why? Is it bothering you?"

The only response that came from him was a weird flushing of his face and Happy crowing, "It sure does botherrrrrrrr him!"

"Happy! Don't roll your tongue that way!" Natsu reprimanded, popping his cat on the head.

I only rolled my eyes and got up from the tree we were plotting under, "We don't need a plan. I just need to get in, steal the book, burn it, then go retrieve the reward. Piece of cake. I'll go now and you'll see!"

With that, I walked up to the gates and fluffed up my skirt, calling out in the cutesiest voice I could, "Excuse me I came to apply for the blond haired maid position! Excuse meee, is there anyone here?"

"Do your best, Luce," Natsu whispered from behind the tree.

"Aye! Good luck, Lucy!" Happy added.

And just as he said that, there came an uncomfortable rumbling in the ground. I glanced down to the see that the impeccable marble tile that I was standing on just a moment before was bulging forward and moaning under some type of underground force, I tensed, halfway ready to punch _whatever_ was coming out of the ground.

But what came out was possibly worse than any monster I was anticipating.

Or maybe the equivalent of a monster.

A gargantuan woman wearing a maid outfit popped out, with breasts so huge they busted the buttons of her maid outfit, her belly spilling out over her skirt, and her polka-dotted panties very visibly peaking out and revealing her crotch and her pink hair done up in pig tails.

"Maid applicant?" she asked in a voice so deep she could have been a man with red lipstick on. Then she turned to the big gaping hole in the ground and called, "There's a girl who came for the maid position, my master!"

And then, as did the gargantuan maid, a round little ball of a man came rocketing out of the hole, with nose-hair as a mustache, a comb-over, sticks for limbs and a weird, "Boyoyoyooon!"

I cocked an eyebrow before wiping any weird expression off my face and smiling, even though I suddenly felt like throwing up again.

"Let me see," he said, stepping close to me a leering.

"Nice to meet you," I said with as much sex appeal as I could with a tiny potato of a man standing in front of me.

His eyes roamed from my ample bust, to my shapely legs and then my face.

And then he said, "Rejected! Go home, ugly."

Before I knew it, I was being picked up and tossed away. "KIYAAAAAAHHH!" I yelled, both from fear of falling and from the pure rejection by that pervert fart of a potato.

I didn't even get to hear what he muttered last, because I was too far away.

Apparently, my fear of falling was for nothing, because I ended up crashing into a stiff chest and strong arms, landing on top of Natsu, who suddenly began coughing.

I couldn't even get to enjoy my soft fall, because soon enough, a certain blue fur ball was hovering around me, hitting my head with a twig yelling, "Lucy don't kill Natsu!"

While said boy was underneath me, coughing, "Damn, Luce, you're heavy."

It wasn't a very good experience for me.


	5. Chapter 5

It was with strong determination that I crept along the corridors of the Duke of Everlue's mansion.

Natsu was behind me, also creeping, Happy just happily walking along the hallway, not a care in the world.

I had changed back into my regular clothes, having felt too strapped in with the maid outfit to keep wearing it for the whole day.

"Lucy," Natsu whispered, and I jumped a bit when I felt the heat of his breath so close to my skin, giving me goose bumps.

I turned to look back at his black eyes, "What?"

"Why the hell are we sneaking around the perverted old fart's house?" Natsu asked. He frowned, "We should have just charged in the front door and blown up everyone who gets in our way. And then burn the book!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

Sighing, I smacked my head. "Look, I don't care how many thieves and monsters you have exterminated. But the target this time is the town's most influential man! Even if he's an annoying pervert, he's not a villain! Plus, if we do things wrong, the military will take action, and we'll get another lecture from the Master!"

"Alright then," Natsu conceded, crossing his arms. "What now? He did call you ugly though."

And then I switched from lecture mode into ticked dragon mode. "Yes that old, hideous pervert called me ugly, but the first chance I get, I am going to destroy him and tear him limb from limb, then rip out his spine and beat him with it!"

Behind me, I heard Natsu mutter, "Holy shit, she's scary sometimes."

"Didn't she just say we couldn't hurt him? Hypocrrrrrrite!"

"I can freaking hear you!" I whisper-yelled, then I continued creeping against the wall as quietly as possible.

After a period of thirty seconds though, I heard Natsu again, "Luce, this is not fun."

I whipped around and aimed another glare at him, "Fun—? Ugh, okay. Natsu, let's pretend we're ninja! So we'll complete this mission without getting noticed!"

His jaw dropped as he smiled and said, "W-wow…ninja!"

Then, a sudden rumbling sound attacked our ears, and the carpet beneath us gave a low whine of torture, before five grotesque maid-monsters popped out of the floor wielding weapons, and in the middle, was gargantuan monkey lady. "INTRUDERS DETECTED!"

"They found us!" I yelled, and next to me, Natsu yelped in surprised, before quickly grabbing his dragon scale scarf and wrapping it around his head.

Just as the gargantuan maid-monster said "Eliminate the targets," Natsu was already flying through the air, his hands in some weird ninja hand sign, and his foot rocking down covered in flames, "NINJA!" he yelled while completely annihilating our opponents.

"Oh my," I said, smacking my head for what must have been the umpteenth time that day. "Natsu, you always over do it."

"We can't let them find us just yet. Nin nin," he said, so serious that I might have hit him and asked him why he couldn't be just as serious on a daily basis.

Next to him, Happy pulled his paws up and made a bastardized version of the hand sign, "Nin nin!"

"So damn noisy," I muttered, then grabbed them both and dragged them into the nearest room, "Come on, before more maid-monsters come and snap your legs like drum sticks."

And for once, luck was on our side. We had walked straight into the library.

Across the room, in the space between a large semi-circle couch, a coffee table and a desk, Natsu was looking around, his hand over his eyes, "Whoa! So many books!"

"Aye!"

I just shook my head and turned to the bookcase, "Look out for the book Natsu, Happy, the chances of it being in here are very high."

"Aye, sir!" both he and Happy chorused then began racing around the room, looking for the book.

I just began a leisurely search of my book shelf, noting that the Duke had some good books.

"Uho! I found a perverted book!"

"Fish reference book!"

"What is this! It's all text!" Natsu yelled, when I turned back to look at him, he was flipping through the pages of a dictionary.

I sighed.

"Natsu…that's normal," Happy said.

"Ooooooooh! I found a golden book!" Natsu yelled suddenly, jumping around in a manner that reminded me of a hyper two-year-old.

I was about to snap at him and tell him to look for it seriously, when I saw the cover. It was a gold book with a picture of the sun peeking over the horizon, clouds parting for it, the title was big and bold across the top and the bottom had the author's name.

"DAY BREAK!"

"WE FOUND IT—!"

I gaped, a bit silently, holding in the stream of curses that were begging to be let out of my mouth.

How the hell could Natsu's weird method of spastically searching through books and picking random ones have produced the book we were looking for?

I had half a mind to kick down the book shelf I had been methodically looking through.

"Alrighty then, now that we have the book," Natsu summoned a flame to his hand, and pretty soon it was engulfed, while Happy flew happily at shoulder level. "Let's burn it, then."

"That was easy!" Happy said, staring at the book.

I gaped, when I finally noticed the author's name: Kemu Zaleon. "W-wait a minute! Th-This author…he was a mage as well as a writer!"

I snatched the book out of Natsu's hand and held it up in the air, "I'm a big fan of his—! Whoa! I thought I had read all of his works! Does that mean this one is unpublished! Amazing!"

Natsu just kind of stared at me with a look that spoke volumes about how weird I was, cocking an eyebrow and said, "Whatever, let's burn it."

"YOU CAN'T JUST BURN EVERYTHING YOU SEE, NATSU!" I yelled, my chest heaving with how loud I had spoken. Then I frowned and gave Happy and Natsu my back, "Besides, didn't you hear me? We can't burn it. I haven't read it…yet."

"But the job said we had to destroy the book," Natsu said, sounding miffed himself.

I peeked at him over my shoulder and stuck out my tongue, "Then pretend ya burnt it, and I'll keep it."

"I don't want to lie."

"Oh yeah!" I said, summoning magic to my fist, chunks of the floor lifting up and collecting around my right fist until they made a huge gauntlet. I grinned Stelliana's grin, "Then you wanna duke it out?"

"Not really, no."

"Lucy's weird, Natsu."

Then, from under the ground came that stupid little "Boyoyoyoyoyo, I see, I see."

I growled, glaring at the ground then scanning the room. Where was a good place…? Aha! I jumped onto one of the bookshelves and sat myself down, pulling out my wind reading glasses, which allowed me to read several times faster than I ever could without them, and began reading setting my gauntleted hand on the floor next to me.

"So that's what you guys were after," the hideous, impolite man yelled out as he burst from the floor. I only spared him a quick glance, noting the debris that was falling and all the delicious dust that everyone was kicking up from the mansion.

"I'm glad to have allowed you guys to run around! I'm a genius, boyoyoyo."

I sent a heated glare at Natsu when he mentioned something about me being slow and the reason why we had gotten caught.

"And it was that _worthless _book you were after!" Everlue yelled.

My head snapped up, "Worthless?" Then I remembered and looked at the book lovingly and brought it up to my cheek to rub it against my face. "S-so can I keep the book then?"

"No. Regardless of how worthless it is, the book still belongs to me," he said, flinging his hand out.

I gritted my teeth, "Stingy asshole!"

"Shut up, ugly."

Natsu shrugged and deadpanned, "All we have to do is burn the book and we'll be done here."

I gaped at Natsu from my position on the shelf. "No! Absolutely not!"

Natsu snapped and glared at me, his sharp canines showing, "Lucy! It's our job!"

I rolled my eyes, got to my feet, book tucked under my arm and flipped off the shelf, rolling in the air so I stuck the landing and tuck off running. "Fine! Then I'm going elsewhere to read this book! Buy me some time Natsu I think it holds some kind of secret!"

"Huh?" Natsu said, giving me a look that was crossed between annoyed and questioning my sanity.

"Secret!" I heard the foul, potato man mutter from the room.

* * *

I had found a weird quiet place underneath the mansion, it smelled to high heaves and had a domed shape, and with large bolted down plates lining the walls. There where two catwalks on either side of the sewer, with running, mucky filthy water in the middle.

It was an unorthodox place to read, but hey, it was relatively quiet if you excused the sound of the running water.

When I had finally finished reading the book, I slammed it shut, having figured everything out, just as the disgusting creep came through he wall and grabbed my arm.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME, YOU STINGY POTATO ASSHOLE!" I yelled, turning to glare down at the nose-haired maniac.

"An asshole! How dare you say that to one such as myself?" he retorted.

"Of course, someone with such weird taste in maids can't possibly be anything but an asshole!"

"DON'T INSULT MY BEAUTIFUL BLOND MAIDS!" he yelled, and then pulled on my arm back to wear I felt it hurt a bit, I bit back any sound I might have made in protest. "So what is the secret huh? Treasure? Hidden fortune? What?"

I just glared at the bastard, flushing my body with magic and waiting for it to build up.

"Say it! IF YOU DON'T SAY IT, I'LL BREAK YOUR ARMS!"

Break my arms…? I quirked an eyebrow then looked down and stuck my tongue out at the hideous bastard.

He gave a loud shout of frustration, "BEHAVE YOURSELF BRAT! THAT IS MY BOOK! I MADE KEMU ZALEON WRITE IT! SO THE SECRET OF THE BOOK IS MINE, TOO!"

But a swishing sound made both of us glance up, and when I did I gave a devilish grin.

Happy came swooshing in and planted both of his back paws into the face of the dirty bastard and I got out of his grip.

"Happy!" I called out appreciatively. "That was so awesome!"

He grinned in response and kept on flying…. right into the sewer that we were in.

I stood up form where I was, under my breath asking Happy to please come out of the water, taking out my key and holding the book with my gauntlet. "The tables have turned, huh? If you give me this book, I might forgive you. But I do wanna punch your face in."

"Ah ha! You're a celestial spirit mage, huh? Boyoyoyo! And you're using the phrase incorrectly!"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh whatever, you idiot. Open, gate of the crab! CANCER!"

And with a pop and flash, there stood cancer, wielding his special scissors and crab legs extending out of his back.

Before I could tell him what to do though, as Everlue stood slack jawed and Happy crowed about how Cancer would say "crab" at the end of his sentences—oh, how disappointed he was going to be—Cancer turned around.

"Lucy, what kind of hair style would you like today-shrimp?"

I smacked my head. "Cancer, no hair cut today, but can you please help me win this battle? Please cut that bastard's nose hair off.

But before Cancer could go and do anything, Everlue was calling out, "Open, a gate to the virgin! VIRGO!"

And the gargantuan woman popped out.

"Oh fuuuuuu—" I mumbled, as she appeared, the ending of my sentence evaporating into the air when the gigantic spirit crashed down onto the surface of the sewer.

But that wasn't even the clincher.

Natsu was attached to her.

I cursed.

Then, powered some magic into my feet and jumped up, grabbing him by his scarf and yanking him back down to earth, away from our enemy.

"Natsu, come on! Get rid of her!" I told him quickly, grabbing him again and throwing him back at the huge woman.

He flailed a bit, before smacking the spirit with a fist full of trailing flames, yelling, "GOT IT, LUCE!"

Then, I ran at Everlue, transforming my gauntlet quickly into a whip with a flash of pink magic, "And you! YOU SHOULDN'T BE MORE THAN A SUPPORTING CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK! NOT THE MAIN ONE!"

And I slammed Everlue into the ground, noticing that Cancer had snipped off his mustache.

Just as I had told him to do.

Natsu and Happy grinned at me, laughing, "You did awesome, Lucy, you're truly a mage of fairy tail!"

"Aye!"

* * *

"After all that, and I still don't get my money," I pouted, as I trudged back home with Natsu.

"You're just as stingy as that old man, Luce," Natsu muttered, putting his arms up and behind his head.

"AM NOT! TAKE THAT BACK!"

"Too much bark, too little bite," he said again, this time glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

Right as I was going to smack him though, he whipped around and flashed me a smile, "Hey, Luce, this mission officially makes us a team, you know that?"

"Huh?" I paused, looking at him, placing my hands on my hips and staring him down. "Team? What do you mean?"

"In Fairy Tail," Happy began, while Natsu continued grinning. "Mages decide whether or not they want to be in teams. They're groups of mages whose powers complement each other and take on jobs together!"

"Yup, what Happy said!" then he turned around suddenly and got right up in my face. So close, that I felt my face heat up with a blush. "Team Natsu! Fairy Tail's two dragon slayers and Happy!"

I gave a nervous laugh and nodded.

Natsu quirked an eyebrow, and put a hand on my forehead then, his eyes looking a bit concerned. "Hey, Luce, are you feeling alright? You're kind of hot."

"Aye! You look flushed!"

"U-Um, pr-probably just a little fever, don't worry about it!" I said nervously, stumbling over my words.

But of course, Happy always had to put his two cents in, "She liiiiiiikes you."

"SHUT UP, CAT!"

* * *

Later on, we found ourselves back at the Natsu and Happy's—well, I guess it was mine too—house.

I flopped down on the couch, my stomach grumbling, and hand over my eyes.

But no sooner had I thought that I was going to get a little bit of time to relax, did I heard suspicious thumps and stomps and muffled curses.

"What the hell are you doing, Natsu?" I muttered, not even opening my eyes. I didn't smell anything burning—just Natsu's special, slightly mouth watering scent—I didn't hear any people screaming in terror, and I didn't really feel anything other the suede of the couch beneath me. "I swear, if you make a mess of this house again, I'm going to kick your ass into next Wednesday."

A pause in the noises, then it seemed Natsu continued doing whatever he was doing, murmuring with Happy every once in a while.

Sadly, I was dozing in and out, so I didn't really catch their conversation.

Eventually, it came to the point that I was about to open my eyes when two warm palms landed on my eyes.

I flailed a bit, before remembering who was in the room.

"Luce, don't open your eyes until I tell you, okay?" he said, his breath tickling my ear. I squirmed a bit before nodding at him, reveling in the nice feeling of his hands on me, so warm and comforting, the callouses of his hands speaking volumes of his magical training.

He helped me sit up, plopping right down next to me, and ball of fur flew into my lap—reflexively, I started petting Happy's head—and then the hands were gone.

I mourned the loss of Natsu's hand for all of a second, before I realized what Natsu had been working on while I was dozing off.

Before me, were two hammocks, the one that Natsu always slept in which was a dull beige color with a little white pillow in it, and then a new one that was blue and had a frilly dark pillow with stars all over it.

I turned my head a bit, and looked toward the wall where Natsu kept all of his memorabilia of the jobs he had done, and saw that on a mannequin was my maid outfit, and on the board was the request with a little sticky saying, "The job I performed with Lucy for the first time!" and the autograph of the Lecherous Crusty Asshole pinned to the board with a dagger.

Words couldn't describe how I felt in that moment.

"Luce, do you like it?" Natsu asked nervously, rubbing the back of his head, Happy having transformed his wings, was hovering around Natsu's shoulders. "Um, i-it's okay if you don't, you know, I can fix it back to the way it wa—"

But I had launched my self into Natsu's arms, wrapping my legs around his waist and digging my face into the crook of his neck, immediately feeling the surge of warmth that covered him. "It's perfect, Natsu!" I cried.

"H-Hey, why are you crying?" Natsu asked, putting his palm against my head.

"Lucy, don't cry," Happy supplemented, not sounding very happy at all.

"Because, you silly dork," I said, my voice muffled. I took a deep breath, "No one's ever considered me like this in a long time!"

"Well, get used to it," Natsu said, back to his chipper self, plopping down on the couch with me on his lap. He leaned back to look me in the eye, "You're my Nakama, and all of my Nakama are special to me!"


	6. Chapter 6

I had a celestial spirit, and his name was Plue. He was adorable and small, and loved to dance and was tiny and white and had a conical shape to his nose.

Of course, Natsu was wondering if my summon failed when adorable little Plue popped through the gate, but I only snapped at him to be quiet, whipped out my notepad and settled my contract with him.

Afterwards, Natsu got in my face and asked me if I wanted to train with him.

My response?

"What the hell type of a questions is that?" I said, saying goodbye to Plue and dismissing him, then grinning at Natsu and fishing some gloves out of my bag and pulling them on tight. "Let's go!"

"Yattah!" he said, grabbing my hand and racing ahead out into the forest, bringing Happy in tow.

I tried my best to sprint next to him—even though his much larger, calloused hand was clamped down on my own—but I couldn't manage more than a limp type of flopping movement.

That was the first thing I would have to work on, stamina and speed.

In a fight, stamina determined how much you could stand of an opponent's attacks and speed determined how effectively you could retaliate. When I was younger, I was forced to run laps around this lake a little ways off of my family's property, while carrying some stuff.

Occasionally, Stelliana would feel a bit sadistic and would throw stuff at me so I would have to dodge.

She ironed out my dodging so it was more fluid, and I honed in on my natural flexibility. It eventually became so natural that it felt as if everything around me would go in slow motion when I focused on it, and I was floating casually through water.

But I had no idea how that hell Natsu expected me to keep up with him.

His dragon must have been a slave driver.

We finally reached a nice little clearing, with huge boulders and swinging ropes, and Happy stood in front of us ominously, and I felt a smidgen of apprehension when I realized that he would be the one training us.

* * *

"Happy, you're a damn slave driver," I muttered; I felt sore in places I didn't even know existed. I stretched my arms over my head and cracked my neck.

"What are you talking about, Lucy?" Natsu said, frowning, pulling his vest off and flopping down over the cool grass, enjoying the breeze that coasted over us. "We're not slaves."

My face heated up when I turned to reply and was hit with the sight of Natsu's sculpted muscles, glistening in the sun and flexing as he adjusted his position on the floor.

I quickly looked away, fixing my eyes on the gnarled knots of a tree trunk in the distance, "Idiot. I just mean he worked us hard."

"Luce, you all right?" he asked from his position on the ground. I could hear him shifting as I focused on memorizing the contours of the caramel-colored tree I was staring intensely at.

Then I felt a hand on my bare you shoulder, which just ignited a huge inferno in my stomach.

"Luce?"

My face heated up and I stood the heck up. "NATSU PUT SOME CLOTHES ON DAMMIT!"

He only frowned at me, scanning my face, "Luce, you have a fever again."

* * *

The next day, we walked to the guild, still dirt poor and living off of the remainder of what ever money Natsu and I could scramble up, so we came to one unanimous decision: we needed cash, and fast.

Natsu kicked open the doors to the Guildhall and walked straight to the request board with me, Happy sitting on my shoulder with his tail wrapped around my neck like a furry, bony scarf.

Around us, everyone was talking and enjoying cold beers everywhere and having a good time while they took time off from jobs.

We scooted up next to Nab, a guy who always procrastinated on picking jobs and said he was waiting for the one job only he could do, but never really got off his rump to do anything.

I stepped up next to Natsu, who was going nuts looking for the most dangerous missions.

I just wanted something simple so we could get money quick.

_Search for a magic bracelet…_

That seemed relatively simple, but seeing how Natsu was my team mate, he would probably try burning everything down to make the bracelet easier to find. Plus, chances are that I would likely lose my temper looking for the damn thing and level the city.

_Remove spell from cursed stick…_

I didn't have the patience nor the knowledge of removing curses… maybe that one girl, Levy? I had to speak with her soon enough.

_Fortune telling love with astrology…_

My stomach gurgled a bit at that one. So, I decided that given my sudden indigestion at the request, it was a horrible choice.

_Exterminating a devil on a volcano…_

That one seemed doable though. It wasn't as simple, but both Natsu and I were looking at it.

"It seems straightforward," I mumbled, not paying any mind as Natsu slung his arm over my shoulder and leaned in to examine the request some more.

"If you find anything that interests you, let me know, since Master's not here right now," Mirajane called from the bar.

"Hmm?" I turned around with Natsu to look at her. "Hey, you're right!"

"Mira," Natsu asked, pointing a finger at her. "Where did the old geezer go to?"

She gave an angelic smile, "He has to attend the regular meeting, so he'll be out for a while."

I furrowed my brows together, "Regular meeting?"

She nodded, "It's a meeting where guild masters from different provinces come to report about their guilds. It's different from the council meeting, but…uhm….I guess it can be a bit confusing."

I shook my head, "No, what you're saying makes sense. I know a little bit about the system of guilds," I shuddered, "…especially the dark ones."

"PEOPLE FROM THE DARKNESS WILL COME TO GET YOU LUCY!"

"KIYAAH!" I whipped around and pushed Natsu's chest with the palm of my hand, "You freaking jerk! Don't scare me like that!"

Natsu just continued laughing and shook it off. "Anyways, come on, choose a job already! We chose a job without you last time so now it's time for you to finish picking one!"

"Natsu, don't rush me!" I yelled and then I paused, feeling a bit devious. "Why was it that you picked me to be in your team anyways?"

"What the…?" Natsu asked, thrown for a loop, then shrugged it off and grinned at me. "You're a weirdo, don't you remember? We chose you because you're a dragon slayer and because you're a nice person, Luce!"

I grinned a bit, then turned around when I heard someone say: "Dragon slayer, eh? Don't let Natsu muscle you on to his team. I heard that you did an excellent job last time. I bet you'll get plenty of recruitment offers."

When I turned around, I saw the shirtless guy, whose boxers Natsu stole my first day in the guild, an orange haired guy who set an alarm off in my head, with a smile that was sure to make girls flock all around him.

"Lucy…would you like to make a love team with me? Just the two of us, tonight," said Loke, the womanizer of the guild.

"Did he just ask me to have sex with him?" I asked Mira, and she nodded, that angelic smile still in place.

I twitched and turned back around, tempted to bring my Celestial Gauntlet out to beat the hell out of the suspicious womanizer.

"You defeated two mages from the mercenary guild Southern Wolves and a gorilla-like woman, right? You're really amazing," Gray continued, as if Loke's perverted comment had never even existed.

"Most of that was Natsu going overboard, actually," I said, deadpanning.

Then, like the first day, they started fighting. Gray grabbed Natsu by his scarf, and growled, "It was you, bastard!"

And Natsu snarled right back, "Got a problem with it!"

"Gray…your clothes," Mira said helpfully, from behind the bar's counter.

And then Gray flipped out, throwing his hands up in the air, and staring down at his boxer clad pelvis, "AAAAAAAAARGH! I FORGOT IT AGAIN!"

"What a pain in the ass," Natsu said simply, glaring.

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME A PAIN IN THE ASS, YOU FLAMING PIECE OF SHIT!"

"A MASSIVE PAIN IN THE ASS, YOU PERVERTED PUNK!"

Then Loke popped up next to me, smiling a weird smile, and I looked at him through the corner of my eye, "What?"

"You're really beautiful," he said—I stepped to the side while Natsu and Gray brawled through the guild yelling insults—and then stepped closer to me still. "Even looking through the dark shades of my sunglasses, you're still so beautiful…If I'd look at you with my naked eyes, they'd probably shatter into pieces…ha ha."

I stepped back and glared at him and those stupid glasses. "Then do everyone a favor, and take them off."

Then, he seemed to freeze when he looked down at my hip, where my spirit keys were dangling. "WUOOOOH! Y-YOU'RE A STELLAR SPIRIT MAGE!"

I cocked an eyebrow, "Celestial Dragon Slayer, didn't you hear it the first day? Or are you deaf as well, dumbass?"

"She has the bull, and the crab and others too, Happy said helpfully, from his place on my shoulders, playing around with my side pony tail.

"WHAT A QUIRK OF FATE! SORRY! BUT THIS IS THE END OF US!" he said, turning on his heel and vanishing into the far reaches of the guildhall.

"What a dumbass, when was there ever an 'us'?" I muttered, clasping my hands behind my back. Then asked Mira, "What just happened…?"

"Loke isn't very good at dealing with celestial spirit mages. I think something happened in the past involving a girl."

I shook my head, and right as I was about to step into Natsu and Gray's stupid brawl, I heard Loke come rocketing back, yelling, "Oh crap, Natsu! Gray! ERZA IS BACK!"

Apparently, I didn't have to do anything. Gray and Natsu froze, as if a spell had been cast on them, and started sweating bullets, there jaws opening wide and eyes bulging as they yelled in unison, "ARGH!"

What then occurred was a strange situation in which the whole guild went silent as a red-haired woman, wearing a breastplate, a loose white belled-sleeve shirt, a blue skirt and shiny leather shoes came walking into the guild, carrying a huge horn, at least a yard in diameter and three yards in length, over her shoulder.

She set it down on the ground with a loud thump, and I felt something weird bubbling up in my chest as I sized up the giant horn. It couldn't weigh that much, right? I could probably pick it up, no problem!

"I'm back. Is master present at the moment?" she asked politely, as if she hadn't carried in something that looked like it weight more that ten times her weight.

"Welcome back!" Mirajane replied happily. "Master's attending the regular meeting."

"I see…" Erza muttered, placing her hand on the horn.

"E-Erza-san….what is that humongous thing?" one of the guild members asked, shaking.

"Hmmm? This? The local townspeople decorated the horn of the demon that I subdued…it was so pretty that I brought it back as a souvenir. Will it be a nuisance?"

"N-No not at all!"

"The horn of the demon she subdued, huh?"

"Whoa…"

"Anyway, guys…" she began ominously, then sliced her hand through the air. "I heard you've been causing trouble again. Even if master forgives you, I won't."

I quirked my eyebrow even higher, who the hell did she think she was…?

"Cana, that's an inappropriate drinking posture. Vijeeter, if you are going to dance, do it outside. Wakaba, your cigarette butts are all over the floor. Nab…are you still handing around the request board? Pick a job already," she sighed. "You guys give me so much trouble. I won't say anything for today."

My only thought was this: You already said a hell of a lot.

"Is she the disciplinary enforcer of something…?" I asked Happy, turning my head to look at him.

"She's Erza," Happy replied simply, giving me a creepoli blank smile.

Then Erza turned to us and asked, "Bu the way, are Natsu and Gray here?"

Happy froze and pointed at the two brawlers, "Aye."

When I actually looked though, my jaw dropped. "H-Hey Erza…w-we're being g-g-g-good to each other as always," Gray rattled off, shaking and still sweating bullets. He and Natsu had their arms slung over each others shoulders, holding their other hands and shaking them in a weird jerking motion.

"Aye!" Natsu replied.

My jaw dropped even more. "Holy shit, Natsu became Happy."

"I see…best friends do fight once in a while…But I'd rather see you two being good to each other like that all the time," she told them.

"Ah…no…like I've been telling you all this time, we're not best friends or anything like that…" Gray stuttered.

"Aye!"

"I've never seen Natsu acting like this," I said, a small measure of jealousy rumbling in my stomach.

"Both Natsu and Gray are scared of Erza!" Mira said angelically, pulling out a pen and drawing a crudely draw picture of all three. "I'll explain it using this chart."

"Huh? And wait, you have to draw a chart just for that? You're really bad at it too…" I muttered the last part too low for her to hear me.

"Natsu picked a fight with Erza and got beaten up," Mira said. "And she found Gray walking around naked and beat him up, too. Loke was hitting on Erza and nearly got himself killed."

"I'm happy to see both of you are doing great," Erza said, smiling. "I actually have a favor to ask both of you. I heard something troubling at work. Usually I would consult Master about this, but I regard this matter as urgent so…I need your help. You'll come with me, right?"

Their reactions were something like this:

Gray: "EH!"

Natsu: "HUH!"

Then, Gray muttered, "Impossible…"

And then suddenly, both were fighting again.

"IT'S ANNOYING ENOUGH TO BE WITH HIM, AND NOW I'LL HAVE ERZA AROUND TOO—!" Gray shouted, pointing at Natsu.

"THIS TEAM IS IMPOSSIBLE! BESIDES, I DON'T WANT TO GO!"

Then, Natsu whipped around and looked at me and attacked me.

And suddenly I was in his clothes and my bangs were up in his signature cowlick.

I growled, "Celestial Gauntlet!" the cobbled stones flying in from under the floor board and creating a huge fist around my hand, I pulled back just as unsuspecting—and half-naked—Natsu smirked, "You're Natsu from now on."

"NO WAY IN HELL, YOU IDIOT!" I said, punching him straight through the wall. "AND PUT SOME FREAKING CLOTHES ON!"

As my chest heaved, I felt the stony tension of the guild. When I felt a bop on my head, I turned and looked into Erza's brown eyes, seeing her smile. "You're Lucy the Celestial Dragon Slayer, right? Please come as well, someone with your type of power can only be an asset to this mission…and by the way…" she glared at me then, "Don't punch people through walls."

I tensed up and started sweating bullets, saluting her I said, "AYE!"

* * *

Gray: an exhibitionist.

Natsu: a simple-minded idiot.

Erza: a seriously scary girl.

And me, Lucy: the all powerful Celestial Dragon Slayer.

The whole time we were at Magnolia Station, I stared at the red-haired woman named Erza, wondering what the hell was going on with her for the whole guild to fear her wrath, and for her to make Natsu react even more like Happy than usual.

It was a horrible situation that threw my mind for a loop.

I was all powerful, if I wanted to, I could very well tackle whatever mission we had to do, and come back in half the time it would take this Erza girl to do.

But then again—I hung my head—I never really got a chance to show my skills off, and it would be too much trouble to show up some girl.

Who the hell would I be showing off _to_ anyways?

"Lucy, you're making a weird face again," Happy said, looking up at me from the floor.

"Why does that monster Erza need our help?" Natsu growled, glaring at Gray.

"How would I know? Besides, if she does need 'help,' I alone would be sufficient," Gray said, his lip curling up.

Then, Natsu and Gray clashed heads together.

"THEN WHY DON'T YOU GO BY YOURSELF! I DON'T WANT TO GO!" Natsu yelled.

"FINE, THEN DON'T COME! GET YOURSELF KILLED BY ERZA AFTERWARDS!"

And that was when I reached the end of my fuse. "SHUT UP, DUMBASSES! YOU ARE CAUSING TROUBLE SO JUST SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

I took a deep breath when I saw they weren't fighting anymore and instead, were now staring at me weirdly. I puffed up again then turned around, crossing my arm under my breasts and sighing. "Damn! Why can't you get along with each other?"

But it wasn't long until the huge fight started up again, where Natsu and Gray were glaring, their foreheads touching each other.

"Why do you always carry around your sleeping bag?" Gray growled, yet again. And I felt like yanking him by the scruff and sending him flying through a freaking wall.

"To sleep on it, duh," but I did have to applaud Natsu's answer to the horribly phrased question.

Then, an idea struck me!

"Ah! Erza-san, this way!" I called, pretending to wave her over.

And like magic, the two idiots were all "Let's be nice to each other!" and "Aye aye, sir!"

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing, holding my middle.

Then they got up in my face, quick as lightning, their jaws practically on the floor, "YOU TRICKED US!"

I wiped the smile off of my face quickly, smirking, "Yeah? What are you going to do about it?"

They quaked for a second, and I bet Natsu was remembering how I slammed him threw a wall, and Gray remembering how the rubble fell after I launched Natsu through the wall.

Gray turned away from me, having a quick conversation with the ever-happy Happy.

"Lucy, why are you here?" he asked, point blank, even though I had told him at our house why I was coming.

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU MORON!"

It took awhile, and Erza bringing a small house's worth of luggage, before we actually got on the train.

But it was weird, as soon as it began moving, I seemed to have lost any type of knack for moving vehicles, and promptly flopped down, my head landing on Natsu's lap as he slouched down, turning green.

"I think I'm going to be sick," we mumbled in unison.

It wasn't really the best start to a mission.


	7. Chapter 7

There was never a dry moment in Fairy Tail that much I understood having been in it for a short while.

Natsu and I were completely destroyed, twitching pathetically on our bench, while Happy poked my head, asking me why I had motion sickness too. I tried to give him my best glare from my position on Natsu's lap, but it probably looked a bit more crusty, pale and pathetic than I intended it to.

My head was in Natsu's lap—I realized.

And then suddenly, on top of being motion sick, my face flamed red.

"Uh-oh," Happy said, still poking my head. "Lucy, you have a fever again."

"Sh-Shut u-up, cat…" I mumbled, closing my eyes and trying to fight the frown that wanted to float onto my face from the horrible feeling of acrid bile and chunky puke climbing up my esophagus, from the acid of my stomach, to climb out my throat and just torture my taste buds my landing on them.

"Lucy-san, you get motion sickness, too?" Erza asked, crossing her arms, almost smiling.

"O-only a-a-as o-of r-r-recently," I stuttered, my cheeked blowing up at one point when I thought I was going to hurl.

"Lucy, I don't think Natsu would appreciate it if you were to throw up on him," Happy said, settling down on my bare stomach.

My hand twitched; Happy was adorable, in his own right, but sometimes I wanted to skin him and turn his pelt into an adorable set of _silent_ mittens.

"Oh, I bet you want to know what magic everyone uses, right Lucy?" Happy said helpfully, actually reading my thoughts. "Erza's magic is beautiful. Plenty of blood came out in the end. Her opponent's blood."

Beautiful, in a way, I supposed. I still bet I could kick her ass any day of the week.

"Lucy-san, I hope you're not thinking anything disrespectful," Erza intoned ominously, cracking her knuckles.

I blanched and shook my head from my spot on Natsu's lap, twitching when I head Natsu's grown of displeasure and his mumbling of, "L-L-Luce, you're h-h-hair is itch-itchy."

"Anyway, my magic is nothing special…I think Gray's magic is more beautiful."

I opened my eyes and looked across the bench at Gray expectantly, he seemed to have gotten the message seeing as he grunted then put his hand out palm up and slammed his fist onto it.

When he released his fist, a small figurine of the Fairy Tail insignia was in his hand.

"It's ice magic," he said simply, putting the figurine closer to my head so I could inspect it.

It was just so pretty. The light danced off of it in a way that no normal ice-sculpture would reflect light, and it was so perfectly crafted that no one would doubt that it was made by magic—it was just so pretty.

"D-doesn't s-suit y-y-you, t-t-t-too p-pretty," I mumbled, trying not to move my head too much to irritate Natsu.

"Who cares?" Gray shrugged, trying to seem indifferent. I found this slightly comical, considering that the exhibitionist of the guild was supposed to be the aloof one. "Anyway, let's get read, Erza. What's going on? You asking for help doesn't happen that often."

"Yeah…let me explain. I was on my way back from work, when I stopped by at a bar in Onibas, where mages gather, some folks there caught my attention…One of the men were speaking about not being able to break the seal on an object, and then letting someone know that they would return with the Lullaby in three days."

"Lullaby?" Gray asked.

Hmm…was it something that could put people to sleep? No, it had to be something more sinister.

I wanted so badly to smirk, it sounded like it was going to be a fun mission.

"I don't know…but since it is sealed, it probably contains some powerful magic," Erza said, and then I felt my ego blow up. She probably thought it was all-powerful! I could probably knock it down with my pinky toe!

"I don't get it…so you came across some folks who wanted to break the seal of some unknown magic…maybe that's all it was, their job…nothing special," Gray replied, the leather seat making a creaking, farting noise as he leaned back in it.

Above me, Natsu cracked a smile. I opened my eyes, and looked at him, his bangs hiding his face from everyone else. He looked pretty pathetic before, but now he seemed a bit cute, giving a horrible smile at the noise Gray's seat was making, bullets of sweat down his body, his face green.

Sadly, I probably looked almost exactly like him.

"Yeah…that's what I told myself, too. And didn't give it any more thought…until I remembered the name Erigor," Erza said, her voice dropping until it acquired a "no-nonsense" type of tenor. "The ace of the mage guild Eisenwald, Shinigami Erigor."

Shinigami? I thought, looking up.

My eyes connected with Natsu's black ones for one second, and I swear I could see a wall of fire dancing in his pupils as the word "Shinigami" was spoken, I looked away, my face heating up.

"It's a nickname people gave him because he kept taking up assassination requests," Erza continued. "The council prohibits mages from taking assassination requests, but Eisenwald chose money."

The train halted, and as soon as it stopped moving, Natsu and I jumped up, suddenly alive. I cracked my neck and followed Erza out, staying away from the stupid train that made me want to puke an ocean's worth of vomit.

When Erza got her luggage, she continued the story, unloading her small house's worth of things. "So then, six years ago…the guild was ousted from the Mage Guild League…and is now categorized a dark guild."

"Dark guild?" I said, smirking. I looked back at Natsu and whispered conspiratorially, "Psst, Natsu, do you think we can destroy an entire dark guild?"

He flashed me a devious grin, "Hell yeah! I'm all fired up!"

Erza looked down, the serious look on her face never leaving though, "It was a blunder on my part…id only I remembered the name Erigor back then at the bar…_I would've put them all in a blood offering._"

I blanched; she said that now but could she back it up?

I turned on my hell and grabbed Natsu's waistcoat, fixing it up, taking a furtive little whiff of his special scent, my mouth watering just a bit.

"Luuuuuce, what the hell are you doing?" he asked, trying to escape, making the fabric tug in my grip.

I smiled murderously, bringing him so close to me I could feel his breath fan across my lips, "Isn't this was sister's do for their little brothers?"

He started sweating bullets again, his eyes widening up like dinner plates, "Aye!"

Anyways, it wasn't like I really wanted to listen to Miss I'm-so-full-of-myself.

"Lucy, why do I get the feeling that you're being a hypocrite right now?" Erza said, side tracking and appearing right next to me.

I jumped, my skin crawling, could this woman freaking read my mind or was I just that much of an open book? I shook my head at her and hid behind Natsu, who was scrambling to get out of the way.

"Right…if it were just the folks at the scene, you probably could handle them all by yourself, Erza. But when it's the entire guild…" Gray continued, quirking an eyebrow at me.

I swear if he did that one more time I was going to wax his pretty little eyebrows right off his face.

This was too much; it was like having an entire army of Stelliana's around to annoy the crap out of me.

"They got a hold of this magic called Lullaby and are plotting something. I judged that we couldn't overlook this matter. We'll march into Eisenwald," Erza concluded, looking back at us with a determined face that no one would be able to say no to due to the sheer amount of command it held.

"Sounds interesting," Gray said, smirking.

Natsu and I jabbed our heads down in a nod.

"Lucy, you're weird," Happy said, randomly plopping down on my head again.

"Shut up, cat!"

"Hey, Erza," Natsu called, flexing his hand. "I'll help you out with this under one condition."

"Condition?" she said blankly. "Say it."

"When we return, fight with me. I'm different from back then," he said, puffing his chest up.

"H-HEY! DON'T RUSH INTO THINGS! YOU WANNA DIE!" Gray yelled.

I smirked, "I want in on this fight too! I would like a chance to fight against someone truly strong from Fairy Tail, to measure my strength!"

"Two dragon slayers against me, huh?" she smiled and rand her hand through her red hair. "You've really grown up Natsu. I'm not very confident in myself…but okay, I accept."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT CONFIDENT! FIGHT ME SERIOUSLY!" Natsu said, his hair flying up when he conjured magic to his fist.

"Hehe, I know…. but you're both strong…I just wanted to say that. Gray…do you whish to fight me too?"

Gray only shook his head like a pansy.

Then I noticed something weird and Natsu started jumping up and down, his back bare. "Um, Natsu, where's your sleeping bag?" I asked, slapping his back.

He stumbled forward with my slap and coughed a bit, then perked up, and jumped toward the train, "MY SLEEPING BAG!"

"WAIT, NATSU YOU IDIOT, THE TRAIN IS MOVING!" I yelled, and then turned around, my face flushing green with nausea.

"Don't get nauseous just thinking about it, Lucy!" Gray yelled, trying to pull be back up from where I was doubled over in the puke-y feelings again.

* * *

When I was younger, I would run circles around Stelliana, yelling at her about how great of a mage I was going to be, how I was invincible.

She usually only had to clothesline me as I charged at her for me to get the picture that I wasn't as strong as I thought.

Stelliana would sit me down on the ground with her, our legs crisscrossed as we meditated.

Sometimes she would whip out a giant branch and smack my head when I wasn't paying attention or when I would start fidgeting too much.

She enjoyed making me fall on my ass.

And the best lesson she ever taught me was about how I wasn't all-powerful.

"Look, Lu-tan," she had told me one day, while we floated on our backs in a stream in our underwear. "The best thing, during a battle, or even life, is to make yourself seem like you have all the power in the world, okay?"

"But isn't that lying, Stelliana?" I asked innocently, twiddling my fingers in front of me, squinting at the glare of the sun.

"No, it's bluffing. You may not always be the strongest one out there. Sometimes, you'll have opponents that you can't beat with brute force, and I know you get scared when you fight someone, Lu-tan—"

"DO NOT!" I insisted, blushing.

"—Yes you do, but when you fight someone, it's alright to be scared, okay? Just tell yourself that you're scared on the inside, but you're the all-powerful Lucy! No one can beat you!"

I frowned at her and brought my legs down and bobbed over to where she was, "What if I can't really beat them, though?"

Stelliana only opened her eyes then, the amber iris honing in on me in the sea of the black sclera of her eyes, her orange hair floating around her like a halo. "Then you run, Lucy. You run like hell," she said, the most serious look on her face that I had ever seen.

At the time, I hadn't really liked that look on her face. So I wrapped my small arm around the middle of her scaly waist, and sunk her to the bottom of the stream with me, grinning all the while as she flailed.

"PUNK!" she yelled, treading water.

I giggled as best I could underwater and swam away.

But of course she caught me.

She always would catch up to me.

* * *

"Dammit, Natsu, why did you have to run on to a moving vehicle, why?" I asked the sky, roughly grabbing my hair and yanking a bit.

"How could I have done that! I was too focused on talking, and let Natsu leave his things on the train! He's not good at dealing with transportation, either!" she turned to me, gritting her teeth and looking horribly ashamed. "It's all my fault! Hit me, will you!"

I put my palms up, trying to calm her, "There, there, calm down. "

Not that I didn't want to hit her, just to see if I was as strong as I thought.

She marched on over to one of the men of the train station and sliced her hand through the air, explaining to him the situation, "SO, THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON! I'LL STOP THE TRAIN!"

The man only began sweating a little bit, "Wh-What's going on?"

It only took two minutes of me having my head turned, imagining what it would be like to beat Erza in a fight, for Happy to suddenly fly away and put the emergency stop to the train.

I drooped; this guild was _too _weird.

"Let's go after Natsu!" Erza yelled, then turned to a random pair of peopled and asked them to deliver our stuff to Hotel Chili.

I sighed, "What a freaking mess."

"Indeed," Gray said, suddenly clothes-less.

Which led to us getting on a magical four-wheeler—barf—and Gray catching Natsu as he flew out of the train.

I felt kind of envious from my place slouched against the window, green in the face, as Natsu and gray smashed into the ground.

"Natsu! Are you okay!" Erza called from her seat up front.

I revived myself as soon as she stopped the vehicle and jumped the hell out of the cart, making a beeline to Natsu and Gray.

"Ouch—! What the heck are you doing, Natsu, you punk!"

Natsu only glared at him blankly. "I lost my memory from the shock just now! Who are you? You smell."

"WHAT!"

"Happy! Erza! Lucy! You're terrible! How could you leave me behind!"

Erza barely got to mutter, "I apologize," before I tackled Natsu back onto the ground. "You flaming retard! When I say you forget something, you don't just run back onto the train, dammit!" I said, shaking his collar so much he started turning green again.

I didn't get that much time to throttle him before Erza calmly picked me up and pushed me aside, hugging Natsu to her breastplate. "I'm happy that you're safe."

"It's hard!" Natsu said, his face flushed against the metal. "How am I safe! A weirdo tried to pick a fight with me! What was it…? Ei…sen…wald?"

And then Erza blew up, her red hair swinging as she slapped Natsu so fast that I couldn't even track it with my eyes, "IDIOT! EISENWALD IS WHAT WE'RE AFTR! WHY WEREN'T YOU LISTENING TO MY STORY!"

I bopped Natsu's head, "Idiot."

"He was in the train earlier, right? Let's chase it!" Erza said, cracking her knuckled. "What did he look like?"

"Nothing special," Natsu said, glaring. "He carried a flute with a skull on one end of it. A skull with three eyes."

Then I shivered. It couldn't be _that _Lullaby, right?

"If that flute is the cursed song…lullaby…sleep…death…!" then I turned around and swung my arms out to get everyone's attention. "That flute is the lullaby! Lullaby…the magic of "death"!"

"What?"

"Cursed song?"

Natsu only gave me a weird look.

"I've only read about it in a book…. but among forbidden magic, there is such a thing as "murder by curse," right?"

"Yeah…just like the name, it'll curse the target and cast "death." It's a black magic," Erza said, sitting back down on the magical four-wheeler.

"Lullaby is worse than that," I said, crossing my arms and nodding.

* * *

Natsu had a nice body.

And that was the only thing I could think of, as my head landed on his lap once again, as Erza speeded along side the train, to the next train station.

All I saw were little stars in my vision, as we continued on.

"Oh, I think I'm going to be sick," and for just that moment when Natsu said that, I revived, propped him up at my window seat and swung my arm across his back, then flopped right next to him, my eyes crossing when I saw the green vomit fly by.

Was the vomit on fire too?

Oh well.

When Erza finally for to the station, you better bet your ass that Natsu and I practically flew out the window, scrambling on all fours to get the hell off of the four-wheeler, we pushed through crowds, while Erza raced ahead and started attacking the staff, knocking everyone out who didn't answer her questions immediately.

Then we rushed in to the train station, seeing the bodies of a military platoon strewn all over the place.

"The opponent is a guild, which means they're all mages," Erza said. "A military platoon wouldn't stand a chance."

"Hurry up, the platform is this way!" Gray called, his shoes slapping against the floor in synchrony with the rest of our shoes.

And what met us at the end of the hall way was not at all pretty.

The whole guild of Eisenwald, standing there, with a guy with a scythe, which I assumed was Erigor, sitting on an outcropping above them.

I leaned back into a defensive position.

"I knew you'd come, Fairy Tail," Erigor said, smirking. "We've been waiting for you."

All I could say to describe Erigor, is that he was an extremely tall asshole, wearing a ton of rags around his hips, a bastardization of a black ragged scarf around his neck, bandages on his arms, sandals, gloves and horribly floppy hair, some suckish tattoos and a face not even a mother would want to kiss.

"We've been waiting for you," he growled, looking like a clown with black makeup.

"You're Erigor, aren't you?" Erza asked.

"Come on, Natsu, it's time to beat some people up," I said, flashing my own smirk, as he came up closer to me, flames jumping to his hands.

Suddenly, magic started flowing all around Erza, making her red hair fly widely about.

"What do you intend to do? Depending on your answer, I might have to make you pay for it."

"We just want to fool around," Erigor said, halfway laughing. "We've got no job and we're really bored."

With that comment, the whole guild started laughing.

I don't know why, but it just ticked me right the hell off.

"Don't you understand, yet?" he said, jumping off the outcropping and flying off in the air. My jaw dropped; he could fly? "What do they have inside a train station?"

"Station?"

Erigor only flew up to the speakers that were up on a big pole. "Time is up."

And then Erza got it, "ARE YOU GOING TO BROADCAST THE LULLABY!"

"What!" I yelled, as the dark guild burst into laughter.

"There are hundreds… No, thousands of people gathering around this station now. If we broadcast it loud enough, maybe even the entire town will hear…. the Melody of Death."

"Indiscriminate mass-murder!" Erza said, glaring at the bastard that flew around like a demented ragdoll.

"We are simply cleaning up those fools who live their lives enjoying their rights, not knowing that there are people who have been revoked of their rights. Living a life oblivious to the unfairness of the world is a sin. Thus, the Shinigami has come to punish them! A PUNISHMENT CALLED DEATH!"

What an idiot, if he did that, his rights would never be returned!

"Now that we've come this far, it's not the _right_ that we seek, we seek _authority._ If we have _authority_ we can simply wipe off the past and control the future," Erigor snickered, even his laugh lines looking disgusting in light of what he just said.

"YOU'RE SUCH A FREAKING DUMBASS!" I yelled out, bringing magic to my hand, "Celestial Gauntlet!"

I charged into the crowd, not caring that Erza and Gray were yelling behind me, or that Natsu had jumped up to punch a shadow guy in the face with a fist that trailed flames.

"Come on, guys, it's time to kick ass!" I called back, as Erigor disappeared.

"This time, we're on a real battle ground!" Natsu added, then seemed to notice how many enemies I was taking on. "LUCE, BE CAREFUL DAMMIT!"

"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF NATSU!" I yelled straight back, hopping up in the air and kicking enemies in the face left and right, "SECRET CELESTIAL MAGIC: CELESTIAL ARMOR!"

With that, stones started flying to my body quickly, and I heard the concerned yells of my comrades as they stopped their own fighting to look back on me. It made sense. Considering they had never seen me battle, that they would think I was being crushed to death under all the rocks, but I was really just in my element.

And as I stood in the middle of all the enemies, beckoning them forward underneath my two feet thick armor of stone, glaring murderously, I knew that we could win, with the strongest team in Fairy Tail.


	8. Chapter 8

Precision.

Execution.

Both were necessary when fighting an immense amount of enemies. I pulled my armor in tight, breathing in the stale scent of stone and straightening out my fingers, pushing a stream of magic down to the fingertips to create a razor sharp slice.

I twisted and turned, the corners of my vision blurring a crimson pink in the aftermath of my swings—it was something that I was extremely proud of.

In any other situation, I could be loud and aggressive, or timid and reserved, but in battle I was the deadliest person around. I battled for myself, to prove that I could be better than anything my father could want from me, I fought to prove to the world that I was in no way weak, that I could depend on myself and only myself to win.

Stelliana had hated this side of me.

She had always said, I had two sides to me…her annoying brat of a "son," her Lu-tan.

And then this side, the murderous version of Lucy Heartfilia that only sought the fall of her opponent.

Bloodthirsty Lucy.

As I twisted around, I caught sight of Erza transforming her armor, and the other half of the mob I hadn't struck down were muttering about Titania.

Erza.

Erza was the Titania.

I gave a grin, so she _did_ have the power behind the reputation.

Erza's new armor consisted of a breastplate that only covered that—her breasts—in a fanned out feathered shape and left little to the imagination regarding her cleavage, and had a large metal flower in the front that extended down along her sides onto her hips. Her biceps were completely covered by straps of metal, and she had gauntlets with a similar feather pattern along the edged.

Her waist followed the feather style and was encircled by huge imitation metal primary feathers, on top of her big billowing skirt, she wore metal boots with metal wings on them, and on her back, were huge metal wings.

It was flamboyant and had no class whatsoever.

Wrenching my elbow around and giving the goon that tried to knock me out one hell of a nose bleed, I walked to the side lines and held my palm out for Erza, with a flash of magic being the only indication that I had reverted back into my regular form, the stones falling around and creating a small crater in the ground.

As Erza summoned her armor and quickly dispatched of a circle of goons, a particularly fat on tried to escape.

I picked up Happy from the ground, who was strangely pale in light of the situation.

"Lucy," Erza called, grabbing her sword with two hands in front of her and leveling it down. "He might be heading to Erigor, Lucy,"—I looked around at that, giving a small yell of frustration when I saw the idiotic villain was nowhere in sight and had probably flown the heck out when he saw my oh-so fearsome display of power—"Go after him!"

I resisted the urge to yell at her for sending me out when even I could sense she was low on power, but only nodded and ran after the fatso.

* * *

"HOW THE HELL DID I LOSE THIS IDIOT!" I yelled in frustration, yanking on my hair. "He's fat, he couldn't have gone that far! Oh, when I get my hands on him—!"

I wrung my hands in the air, miming what I would do to the idiot to prove my point.

Next to me, Happy could only shake his head.

I clenched my teeth then flopped my butt down on the floor, calming my nerves.

"Lucy, what are you doing, we have to find that guy or Erza will kill us!" Happy said, tugging at my arm.

"I'm thinking," I muttered. "We won't get anywhere if I charge off like Natsu. I have to think this through."

And so I did.

The fatso could have any number of magic types on his side that I wasn't able to catalog during my own quick battle with the goons, so what could I use to locate him?

I wasn't a Tracker type mage, so I wouldn't be able to find him with any type of precision near what I would like, that much was obvious.

My dragon slayer magic mainly specialized in combat, not tracking anyways, so I was useless in that respect.

I furrowed my brows and tilted my head to the side when I heard a loud keening sound.

"Hey, what's that?" Happy pointed out, his paw directed towards the window.

I pressed my palms onto the floor, slid myself up the wall, and glanced outside, my brown eyes widening when I saw a giant moving wall just outside of the window. "What the hell is this?"

But then it hit me!

I gave no thought to the moving wall outside; I would cross that bridge when I got to it. Instead I slid my eyelids shut and sniffed.

I had always had a superb nose, and Stelliana used to joke that I could probably smell a fart halfway across Fiore if I put my mind to it.

So why couldn't I just sniff out the fatso and track him down?

I concentrated as best I could on the brief scent of ramen noodles and garlic I had caught as the fatso ran out of the room Erza and I had battled the goons.

But then my head drooped after about a minute.

I sighed, "We totally lost him."

Happy jumped into my lap, "Aye."

"Hey…why don't we go back to Erza for now?" I asked him, plopping my palm down between his blue furry ears.

Happy could only gape and tremble in my lap.

I frowned, "What?"

"Erza told us to 'go after him.' I see…Lucy's incredible…She's gonna ignore Erza's request! _That_ Erza's request…I wouldn't want to see Erza doing this and that to Lucy!" he said, and I had no idea how, but he was sweating bullets.

I put my hand on my scaled belt and the other to my cheek, "Wh-what is she gonna do to me?"

Silence.

Growling, I got up, placing Happy on my head. "Fine. I'll keep looking. I'll keep looking until we find this fatso, so long as that woman doesn't try to shred me to pieces."

"You're weird. You change your mind pretty quick," Happy said in that disturbingly blank voice that always made me want to skin him.

"Shut up, cat."

* * *

It was a while before I heard a ton of rumbling, and took off in the direction of the sound, my feet slapping against the concrete, before I saw a crumbled down wall.

As I entered, I asked softly, "Did we come at a bad time..?"

Gray stepped to the side, dried blood crusting down the side of his face. He explained everything to me in low tone, and then pointed at the swirling vortex that was right beyond our reach. "So, we won't be able to get outta here unless we do something about the magic wind wall."

I nodded, "I see, have you tried all manner of physical attacks?"

Gray nodded, just as Natsu got up, and in a pink blur that trailed flames, slammed his hand into the wall and was thrust backwards with a huge back, landing in a heap by my feet.

I frowned at his swollen cheeks and the purple and blue bruises on his body, the turned to take inventory of everyone's injuries.

It seemed as if we were on the losing side this time.

A little bit away, Erza was trying to coax a guy with a black ponytail and sever injuries to wake up and help us.

I shook my head.

Naïve.

But behind me, Natsu kept on trying to slam himself into the wall, screaming every time.

When I saw him careening backwards a fifth time, I ran up behind him and caught him, taking the brunt of his fall and covering his head.

When the dust settled, I coughed, pressing my hand onto the ground, "Natsu, quit it, you're not going to get anywhere with brute force, think this through."

But he only shrugged me off and ran at it again, screaming, his eyes intense.

I got up, my heart beating widely as his face broke through the barrier and then as he ricocheted back onto me. I put him in a headlock, bracing my feet on the ground to hold him back. "WOULD YOU FREAKING STOP? YOU'LL GET CUT UP INTO PIECES AT THIS RATE! DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR WELL BEING?" I yelled furiously, throwing him down on the ground and putting myself in position to bodily stop him again if he rose up to charge another time.

But then an idea seemed to occur to him, as his face lit up. He launched up from the ground and held my shoulders, yelling in my face excitedly, "I know! Celestial spirits!"

"Eh?" I asked, quirking and eyebrow and trying to lean back a bit, his sudden movements having unsettled my heart and stomach a bit.

"I was able to transport through the celestial spirit's world in Everlue's mansion!" he said conclusively, stepping back and smacking his fist into his open palm, nodding at me as if he had solved everyone's problem.

"No," I frowned. "Usually humans die when they enter that realm. You wouldn't be able to breathe there. And the gate only opens where the mage is standing. That means that if you want to get out of here through that realm, we'd have to have at least one Celestial Spirit Mage outside of the station."

"That's confusing! Just do it anyway!" Natsu yelled, leaning right back in my face, flecks of spit hitting my face.

I twitched and leaned closer to him as well, our foreheads smashing together. "I said it's impossible and that's that! Plus, it's a serious breach of contract when a human enters the Celestial Spirit realm. It was okay the other time because it wasn't one of my keys, it was Everlue's key."

Near my feet, Happy muttered, "Everlue's…key…" and then he turned up to me, swinging his little cloth pack around and scooting aside a fish while he searched inside of it for something. "Lucy, I just remembered something that I was supposed to tell you! This!" and he pulled out a Celestial Spirit key.

My jaw dropped.

And my stomach gurgle uncomfortably.

Then I dove down and pinched Happy's mouth together, "YOU IDIOT! THAT'S VIRGO'S KEY! YOU SHOULDN'T BE TAKING SOMEONE ELSE'S KEY WITHOUT PERMISSION!"

"Bwash Luushwy," he said, and I felt a little bad so I released his lips, willing my cheeks to stop burning from embarrassment of this Celestial screw up. "Gah, Virgo herself wanted you to have it."

My eyebrow twitched and my jaw dropped for a second time. My butt plopped onto the ground, "WHAAAAT!"

"What are you talking about?" Erza asked plainly, fro her place on the ground by the "Kage" guy's place.

"Don't waste our time talking about nonsense," Gray grunted, glancing back out at the magic wind wall.

Then Natsu appeared behind me, his hands on his hips as he yelled energetically, "AH! You mean, the maid gorilla!"

Happy nodded, "Mhm, she said since Everlue was arrested, their contract was broken. So she wanted a contract with you this time. She visited my place."

I shuddered at the thought of the hideous monster maid. "I-I love the offer, but it's not the time for that. We have to think of a way to get out of here!"

"But—!" Happy tried, but I swooped down and pinched him again.

"Be quiet Happy!"

"But….Virgo can dive underground…I thought that way we could go under the magic wind wall and get out of here," he said sadly, looking down as if I had shot down his brilliant idea.

I twitched a bit, my face flushing in embarrassment for all of five seconds before I forced it down and jumped around happy, "I SEE! GOOD JOB, HAPPY! Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

"Cause you were pinching me," he said simply, looking up at me. "Lucy, you're weird."

I snatched the key out of his paws and held it in front of me, summoning magic to my limbs and feeling I course through me once again. When I felt it well up in my chest, I intoned, "I am the person who connects the road to the Celestial Spirit realm. Thou…shalt respond to the calling and pass through the gate. OPEN! THE GATE TO THE VIRGIN! VIRGO!"

With an opulent flash and clink of chains, a shackled, skinny pink hair girl appeared before me in a well-fitted maid outfit, bowing. She asked, "How may I help you, mistress?"

My jaw could only drop yet again, Natsu falling to the ground in surprise next to me.

He bounced right back up though and said simply to her, "You lost weight."

She ignored the comment and gave a sweet smile, "I apologize for causing you trouble last time."

I could only feel disbelief welling up inside me before I shook it off and walked up to her, "Whether you've lost weight or not is not relevant right now, can we make a contract later?"

"As you wish, my mistress," Virgo said, looking at me completely serious.

I sighed. "Don't call me 'mistress,' please."

"Then how about 'Your Highness'?"

My arm twitched, "No, not that either."

"'Princess,' then?"

"Accepted," I said with a nod, crossing my arms. "Now please get to it."

She nodded and clapped her hands together and then dove towards the ground in a similar vortex-like fashion to the spinning magic wind wall, creating a huge hole for all of us to file through.

Erza could only grab my head and mush it to the front of her breastplate, saying, "Good job, Lucy."

* * *

In the end, we had to get in that thrice damned magical four-wheeler, catch up to Natsu, and then catch up to the place where all of the guild masters were meeting, only for us to hear yet another sermon from Master Makarov as he lectured Kageyama.

But then, the skull-flute took on a life of its own and morphed right before our eyes into a monster. It had the standard amount of limbs, with horns sticking out of it's head as gnarled as its disgusting body, with huge claws and cut outs all over its body.

Not only that, but it had the world's most disgusting grin on it's face.

All in all, I could only say that it was the most hideous being I would ever see.

"I'm starving to death," it snarled. "So I'm gonna eat your souls!"

And of course, with his arm slung across my shoulders in his typical fashion, Natsu yelled, "Whaaaat!" then turned to Gray and asked, flabbergasted, "SOULS ARE EDIBLE! DO THEY TASTE GOOD!"

Gray could only yell back, "HOW WOULD I KNOW!"

I could only stare up at it, contemplating the options we had.

One was to cower and fear and await our imminent deaths.

That one was obviously out since all of us still had some measure of magic in us, not to mention that I wouldn't stop fighting until I was left a stump, without arms or legs.

The second was to send a courier back to the guild to bring help.

That was obviously out because there was no way that we could hold off that monster to await reinforcements.

And the last was one that made me both grin in excitement and tremble in fear: fight the huge being head on.

I clenched my fists, and then I quickly looked down, spotting a nice sizable rock.

My grin grew as I grabbed it and smoothed off the foliage from it, and took a bite out of it, my teammates none the wiser about my preference in food.

The smell of anticipation was thick in the air, mixed with blood and the pungent, acrid odor of sweat. Magic crackled and the air weighed down from Lullaby's demon form.

"Now, whose soul should I have first?" it rumbled. Then opened it's mouth, released a foul, high pitched keening sound that made my ears pop. "I know: all of yours!"

Almost as if our brains were connected though, Erza, Gray, Natsu and I all launched at the demon quickly.

Erza summoned her Heavenly Wheels Armor and hacked straight through the demon's middle.

Natsu climbed up its legs, trailing flames behind him. And then, he launched himself at it's face, his feet catching fire and kicking the huge beast away.

I grinned, seeing my opening. Stones from the ground came flying up, gathering onto my fist so quickly and so large that it was easily three times my size. I reared my hand back then careened it forward as the monster came my way, shouting with a murderous grin, "CELESTIAL GAUNTLET!"

But then lullaby attempted to retaliate, sending foul balls of black energy towards Natsu, who flipped over it and used my giant gauntlet as a jumping pad. The energy balls smacked into something with a huge crackling energy, a burned earth smell coming from the ground as Gray summoned a quick ice shield then quickly morphed it into a giant lance with which to skewer the massive enemy.

On Lullaby's horns Natsu was being flung around like a rag doll.

My face wanted to blanch at the mere thought.

But when Gray yelled out, "NOW!" I quickly gathered all my might into my gauntlet, stretching the fingers out and letting my magic sharpen the stone fingers into talons.

Blood rushed into my ears at that moment, the only thing in my ears was the horrible throbbing of my pulse as adrenaline pumped throughout the entirety of my body.

I reared my arm back, feeling my muscles bunch up in preparation underneath the misleading toned flesh of my arms. I wound it back, like a rubber band, and then released it with a pop.

"DRAGON SLAYER'S CLAW!"

"SALAMANDER"S BRILLIANT FLAME!"

"ICE MAKE: LANCE!"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAH!"

What then ensued as all four of us went crashing down to the ground, was a series of explosions and booming crumbling as the Lullaby Demon crashed into the Guild Master's meeting hall, completely dismantling it, bricks flying everywhere.

I landed on my feet, smiling as the giant fell behind us, laughing when Natsu grabbed me by the waist and twirled me around, Erza and Gray walking past us at a leisurely pace.

Master Makarov was bouncing around energetically as we approached him, Happy next to him.

But then, as the delicious dust settled, everyone noticed how much we had really destroyed.

I blanched and climbed my way up Natsu's body so that I was sitting on his shoulders. Happy flew by onto by head, accidentally squeezing his neck with my thighs when his spiky pink hair tickled me, and said, pointing ahead, "TIME TO RUN THE HELL AWAY, NATSU!"

That was the day that all of us ran like hell back to Fairy Tail.


	9. Chapter 9

Natsu was an idiot.

I realized that the moment that he pulled the switch on Master and followed her when the military carted Erza away.

I said nothing when he left.

The only thing I really did, was get up off of my rump and slip out the guildhall's back door.

I didn't know what was running through my mind as I trudged my way through busy town, past the sounds of life and clinking dishes of restaurants, the yells of mothers chasing after their children, couples walking hand in hand and nuzzling each other in the park.

I frowned when I heard the noises hush as trekked farther and farther into the foliage, the smells of soft dew, moist earth swirling, leaves crunching beneath my feet and birds chirping in the far off distance.

When Natsu had first led me to his house with Happy, he had done so while pulling me by the hand, pointing out landmarks so that I would be able to find my way.

Immediately after stepping foot on the earth, where Magnolia's pavement ended, you would have to walk for about thirty paces, to a tree with a gnarled branch that looked like a hand extending into the sky, at that tree you would make a half turn right and walk past it, where you would find some fluffy bushes that had red flowers that had a short green steam and whose base was tubular, with tiny stubby crimson petals at the top—none were thicker than a strand of hair.

Once you past those bushes you would arrive to a cove of trees whose trunks were nestled so close together, that you wouldn't believe you would be able to get through, but there were two trees that should signs of wear, where Natsu told me he had forced them apart so he wouldn't have to trek around.

After a few minutes after walking, passing a mound of boulders and an out of place cherry blossom tree, you would arrive at a sign that said "NATSU AND HAPPY" with some paint added in that revised the sign as "NATSY Lucy AND HAPPY," with the "Lucy" in small letters.

I had no idea when Natsu actually got around to painting it, but every time I saw it, it warm me up inside and made me smile.

Today, it just made me frown.

I passed through everything, slid my key into the newly installed lock and walked into the house.

I bit my lip and walked over to the kitchen, staring down at the mismatched utensils, and then surveying the filled fridge.

But my eyes kept wandering over to the knives that were on the wooden cutting board—the cutting board itself was only a sanded log Natsu had chopped up for me.

One particular knife caught my attention: it had a smooth black handle that curved to fit the user's fingers, the blade showed minimal signs of wear—meaning Natsu had actually cared to clean for it—and was sharpened to the point where when I laid it against my finger to test it, my skin gave way to blood immediately, with only a feather-light touch.

I set it back down again, the opened the tap, water spewing from a crudely welded dragon's mouth. I got a small white dishtowel from the cabinet below the sink, wrung it under the water, and set my self to cleaning the knife.

When I finished, I closed the tap and admired my work, putting it up to the natural sunlight and giving a faint smile, "Natsu really shouldn't sharpen these too much, he'll hurt himself."

With that, I put all the excess knives away, washed some dishes that were just wasting away in the sink, dried them off and put them in their place, then went to where my bag of clothes were.

I pulled out a bikini top and a pair of shorts, quickly put them on and tied my hair up in two high pigtails, then walked out.

There was no way in hell I was ever going to let my self be beaten by Erza.

And there was no way I was going to let Natsu think I was weak in any way whatsoever.

So I would train.

* * *

The next day, I picked up my pack, got dressed, brushed my teeth and washed my face, then walked to the guildhall.

Even a block away, I could hear the rambunctious "FREEEEDOM!"

I stopped, right smack dab in the middle of the road.

Did I really want to walk in there and probably get barbecued by Natsu's hyperactivity?

I smirked and continued walking: of course, if only to have a reason to punch him.

The guildhall was in a celebratory mood, giant beer tankards all over the place, Cana typically drinking a keg, Natsu running around breathing fire.

I could only shake my head, make my way over to the bar and order a glass of water and mixed vegetables from Mirajane.

She came over to me, with an angelic smile, and when she noticed my order, she asked, "Lucy, are you a vegetarian? I've never seen you order more than vegetables."

I took the water she handed to me and took a sip. I nodded, "Yes. It's something to do with my training. After I began, I couldn't handle eating animal products—I think it's something to do with the blood? I wouldn't know."

Mira tilted her head to the side, "But didn't your teacher tell you why that happened?"

I shook my head and gave a nostalgic smile, "No. She disappeared on me by the time I actually wondered about any of it. Doubt she'd be able to explain the mechanics of it anyways, she never was that type of a smart person."

Next to me, Erza sat down and ordered a slice of strawberry cake. Mirajane smiled and wrote it down, then went to fetch the dessert.

I closed my eyes and took another sip of my water, then turned to Erza.

"Everything went well, I hope?" I asked her coolly, staring straight in the eyes.

She nodded, "It was nothing. I would have arrived earlier had it not been for Natsu."

I could have chuckled, "Yeah, he tends to act first then think. Sometimes he never thinks actually."

She gave me a small smile, "You know him very well already, I see."

I rolled my eyes, "That boy could lived across town from me, and I'd still know him like the back of my hand. He screams so much, you don't even have to ask for information from him."

Before Erza could respond though, Mirajane had set down my food in front of me. I unrolled my napkin and pulled out my fork.

I was two seconds away from impaling a delicious looking broccoli when my plate of food disappeared; it's delicious scent vanishing and everything.

I blinked twice before mechanically turning around.

"Yuck, Lucy, why did you buy me vegetables? These taste nasty," he said, all the while chewing and swallowing the food that was supposed to be mine, flecks of saliva hitting my face.

Happy flew onto the bar when he saw the look on my face, my eyes spitting pure sparks and hard like flint.

Before I knew it, I had flung my fist straight at his face, and he went flying through the doors.

I said nothing as the guild went quiet.

"Thank you for not sending him through the wall," Erza said, taking a bite of her cake.

I nodded and gave her my own smile, "It's no problem, Erza. I always keep in mind the words of my superiors," I then turned to Mirajane, who was also smiling angelically, "I'll be leaving now Mira, could you put that on Natsu's tab please?"

She jabbed her head down, her white top knot flipping in the air, "Absolutely, Lucy!"

As I walked out, I heard one whisper that made me smirk, "Demons, they're all demons."

Happy flew very far away from me on my way back to the house.

I followed the way back to the house, not seeing hide nor hair of Natsu, and when I did get to the house, I frowned at the sign and walked in.

I didn't even notice when Happy ran off.

I only made a beeline into the house and grabbed my things. I put everything I knew was mine in my white duffle bag, and stood in the middle of the room, staring at the two hammocks.

Biting my lip, I whipped my starry pillow off of the hammock and placed it snuggly on top of my duffel bag, resting my arm on it so it wouldn't fly off.

I locked the door as I left the house, and as I reached the edge of the trees, I paused. My body was urging my legs to keep moving, but I felt something painful in my chest, begging me to stop, something strangely warm.

I shook my head and gritted my teeth.

Runaway.

Runaway.

I always ran away from my problems, but why? What reason did I have to runaway?

What did Natsu do that triggered my instinct to run?

As I stood at the edge of the trees, a small voice whispered to me: _because he left you all alone, just like Father, Mama and Stelliana._

I bit my lip harshly and took a half step forward, smashing my forehead against the bark of a tree, feeling the wet trail of blood from where my skin had split and now bled crimson.

Mama died.

Stelliana disappeared.

And Father abandoned me, any remnants of emotional attachment to me gone the moment Mama died.

I had lost the three most important people in my life all at once.

And Natsu left just as easily.

It was that fear of being left alone that gnawed on my insides like an angry beasts, feeding this neediness inside me. It warped my perception of the world so much, that I desired to leave, whenever someone threatened my happiness.

And wasn't that why I fought only for myself, my own goals, and to make the dead and gone think well of me?

But Natsu…

Natsu fought for his Nakama, didn't he? Ever since the day I had first met him, he was rumbling about his Nakama, his precious people, and how he would protect them in some form of another.

And wasn't he the one who had a whole wall in the house filled with mementos?

"Lucy, why are you sleeping on a tree?" called the devil himself, coming up from behind me.

I cracked a smile and turned on my heel to face him, leaves crunching beneath my feet as I did. "I'm just admiring nature, Natsu, it's good for the spirit."

He frowned, "Lucy, you're bleeding! Are you alright?"

I touched my forehead lightly, looking down when the tips of my fingers came away a deep red with blood and flecks of bark. "Yeah, I'm fine, I must have gotten a bit carried away, admiring nature and all."

But then I noticed what he carried in his arms.

"Natsu…what is that?" I asked timidly, drawing back into the shade of the tree.

"Oh!" he said, looking down then holding out a basket. Then he looked up and grinned, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "Well, Happy yelled at me some for eating your food, so I just went out and bought you some more! Is this enough?"

He held out the basket for me, indicated the heaping packages of roasted vegetables of all kinds and a small box of chocolate dipped strawberries on top.

I smiled at him and took the basket. After carefully setting it down I turned around to face Happy and Natsu.

There was no time between the point in which I grinned at Natsu and when I jumped into his arms and breezed a kiss on his cheek.

In the same manner, there was no time between the point in which my lips barely grazed his cheek and I had jumped apart.

Chances were, he only registered when I picked up the basket, grabbed his hand and pulled him inside, Happy laughing happily as he landed atop my head.

I was an idiot.

Natsu was so cutely immature, that he would never knowingly abandon his Nakama.

That just wasn't him.

I could have laughed when I turned my head a bit and saw his face flushing.

"Natsu, you have a fever."

* * *

The next day, I woke up bright and early, tiptoeing around the house so I wouldn't wake up Natsu, who was still sleeping, Happy on his chest.

I snuck into the kitchen, and saw a piece of fabric that made me laugh. There was a frilly apron in the corner of the room up with a tiny apron. The bigger one had a little picture of a fire and at the bottom it used to say "Master Chef" but the chef had been singed away.

The smaller one was simple and Happy-sized, with the picture of a fish on it.

I giggled as I put on Natsu's apron, and set myself to cooking breakfast for both of them.

It was a nice feel, being able to cook for people other than myself, and I was pretty damn good cook if I said so myself.

I slid the food onto a plate then turned to the two sleepy heads.

Who were so content in sleep, that I spotted snot bubbles from my place in the kitchen.

I waited a good fifteen minutes in total silent, watching as the steam from my food slowly withered away.

Then I got fed, grabbed a wooden spoon and bonked both idiots in the head for not waking up on time.

"WAKE UP!"

"AHHHHH LUCY!" they yelled, falling from the hammock, Natsu accidently squishing Happy.

I grumbled as I went to the nearby pile of clothes and chucked a white shirt at Natsu, mumbling for him to put it on.

After all, it wouldn't do for me to pass out from embarrassment cause he had fallen asleep before he put on his nightshirt.

I sat down at the table, and poured some juice for him, putting my hands in my lap and waiting for him to take a bite out of the delicious food I had made him.

But no, rather than smile in content that I had cooked for him, Natsu and Happy could only turn rather green when they saw the scrumptious food I had cooked them, and from then on, the air grew tense and oppressive.

I twitched a bit.

"Um…L-Lucy, what is this?" Natsu asked hesitantly, poking the vegetables and tofu on his plate. "It looks like…um grass and mushrooms."

I twitched.

"Yeah! Where's the fish?" Happy said, poking the vegetables.

I shook my head and stabbed a tomato, grinding it down with the prongs of my fork, until it was thoroughly impaled on my fork. Then I brought it up to my mouth and took a huge bite of it.

"And after I took all that time and consideration, making your food spicy," I pointed my fork at Natsu. "And despite my best wishes, stirring your vegetables with fish stock."

I continued eating my vegetables, and taking a sip of my apple juice, glanced up with I heard the tell tale sounds of Natsu and Happy devouring their plates, specks of food flying everywhere.

Then, two plates, licked clean, were right in front of me, "SECONDS PLEASE!"

I smirked and took their plates, walking over to the kitchen to pour seconds onto their plates.

I knew they would like it.

And I couldn't help but think it was adorable how they ate all of my food after they got over their fear of "grass and mushrooms"…even if specks of food decorated my face because of this.

When we had all finished and I had rinsed off all the plates to wash later, we set out for the guildhall, to find a suitable job.

All three of us knew that we wouldn't survive very long without cash.

And since the job with Everlue didn't give us any money, and destroying Lullaby didn't really bring money, we were flat broke, and had been broke for quite a while, surviving on only what we could make from fridge or cajoling Mirajane into giving us a free dessert or glass of water when the master wasn't looking.

I snatched up Happy from the floor and held him in my arms as we entered the guildhall.

Natsu eyed me and Happy's place against my chest. "You're gonna make him lazy."

I shrugged, "He doesn't mind."

"Natsu, Lucy, Happy!" Mirajane called from her place at the bar, rubbing her eye as if she just woke from sleep. "Welcome home!"

"We're home," we all said.

I took a glance around the room and noted how everyone seemed lethargic; as if they had all spent the night at the guild and had just woken up, even Erza.

"What the hell happened here?" I asked Mirajane, quirking an eyebrow.

"Nothing, just Mystogan casting his sleep magic on us again, he always does it so we don't see his face," she propped her elbow up in a thinking position. "I guess Master is the only one who has ever really seen his face."

"That sounds…suspicious," I mumbled, wandering over to the request board while Natsu made angry eyes with Gray, yelling about something that I didn't even take note of.

Those two idiots were always arguing nowadays.

"Actually," called a voice form the second floor. "I know it as well."

"Huh?" I mumbled, craning my neck up to stare at the person that was on the balcony of the second floor. He was a super tall blonde guy with big muscles and blue-ish eyes. His hair was slicked back and was spikey all over the place, he had a lightning bolt shaped scar over his right eye and carried a pair of Magic Headphones, a lit tobacco hanging from his lips.

"Laxus!"

"You're here!"

"How unusual!"

"Who the hell is that?" I muttered under my breath, crossing my arms.

At the bench next to me, Gray had finished fighting with Natsu and was relaxing his head in the palm of his hand, "That's Laxus Dreyar. He's up there with Mystogan for one of the strongest mages Fairy Tail has to offer."

But while this was going on, Erza punched Natsu down, after asking her about their fight.

I frowned, Natsu always knew how to ask things at inappropriate times.

But he bounced back up and right onto the table. "LAXUS! FIGHT ME!"

Behind him, a mage named Warren told him, shaking his head, "You were just defeated by Erza, and now you're looking for another fight?"

I was about to pull Natsu down by his ear, holding Happy up with one arm, when Laxus said, "He's right. You can't even win against _Erza_. How the hell do you think you'll stand a chance against me?"

I froze and turned around to face the arrogant bastard. "I need to figure out how the hell to beat all these arrogant idiots down, and quick."

"But, Lucy, you're arrogant too!"

I put my hand over Happy's mouth.

"I agree, Erza muttered looking up, the air was dark and forbidding, as she sent up a poisonous glare at Laxus. "And what exactly is that comment supposed to imply?"

"Why do I get the feeling that one of these days my guild will be destroyed by a battle royale?" Master Makarov muttered from his place at the bar, gulping down a beer to drown his worries in alcohol.

Next to him, Mira smiled and said, "Because it probably will."

Makarov could only gulp faster.

"I mean, that I am the strongest in this guild!" Laxus exclaimed, holding his arms out like some parody of a god.

"COME ON DOWN, BASTARD!" Natsu yelled, waving his fist in front of his face, his canines showing.

"Tch," Laxus smirked, and then said in a condescending voice, "Why don't you come up?"

And of course, Natsu being an idiot, jumps up on the bar to use it as a launch pad and tries to hop onto the second floor, only for the Master to extend his huge hand, using magic to enlarge it, and smacks him down.

"You can't go to the second floor," Master said, taking another large gulp of his beer. "Yet. You'll wreak too much havoc on _those_ jobs."

"Ha ha!" Laxus laughed, leaning his head down on top of his arms, "You got scolded."

But then the Master opened one eye and looked up at Laxus, "You too, Laxus, stop it."

But all that just seemed to float by Laxus' ears. He only took a puff of his huge tobacco and said, "I'll never give the title of Fairy Tail's strongest to anyone. Not Mystogan, not Erza, not even the old man. _I'm_ Fairy Tail's strongest!"

Later on, after finding a relatively interest job yet not finding Natsu anywhere in sight, I walked over to the bar and asked Mira about the second floor.

"Hmm," she said, looking me up and down. "I think you might be able to get up there sometime soon Lucy, but it still might be too early. The request board on the second floor has jobs that far surpass the difficulty level of anything on the first floor. They're the jobs that only a select few can take, the S-class jobs. They're those types of jobs that if you make a tiny, miniscule mistake, you're life may perish. However, the pay is always great with those jobs!"

I quirked an eyebrow; somehow, the mention of death and an angelic smile did not mix well with me.

"The Master has to approve you so you can go on those S-class jobs. But don't worry about it, right now, only five people including Erza, Laxus and Mystogan are really qualified enough to even ask for those jobs."

"I guess," I said, rubbing my arm.

I took another glacne around the guild, searching for the head of pink hair. "Well, this has been nice Mira, but I think I need to go search for my teammate."

She nodded and flashed me a smile, "Teammate? Yes. Maybe even more than that?"

My face heated up.

More?

No!

Never!

My head was all mixed up with random thoughts after that. So much so, that I stumbled into a couple of thorn bushes on my way back to the house, but when I did get home—after imagining a horrible picture of a lovey dovey Natsu chasing after me, and wondering why the hell my heart even skipped a beat when I thought of it—I saw the devil himself.

Happy had a small dumbbell in his arms and was doing a ton od deadlifts, while Natsu was sweating all over the place, shirtless and glistening, doing sit ups.

"Welcome back!" they both panted.

"I'm home…" I muttered. Then I twisted around and did a crescent kick, straight to his freaking face. "YOU SMELL LIKE SWEAT AND YOU ABANDONED ME AT THE GUILD! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE WITH THAT SMELL!"

They could only rebound, popping out with a giant dumbbell that was blue and starry, just like my pillow, I hesitated with my next barrage of yelling when I saw it.

"What are you talking about? We're a team, Lucy, here, this is yours!" he said, giving me a huge grin and easy going look that made my heart stop just a bit.

But I restarted it quick!

What Mirajane said was pure garbage!

"You like stars, right Lucy?" Happy asked.

I took the dumbbell, nodding, "Yes…yes I do, but why are we training double time now?"

I held the dumbbell up and behind my neck, and began doing squats while they did push ups, still confused.

I guess I would just have to clean like mad to get the sweat stink the hell out of the house.

"We have to get stronger to defeat Erza and Laxus," Natsu said simply, sweating more as he went all the way down and up with each push up.

"Aye sir!" Happy said, looking like he was just bending his head.

"Ah, I understand," I mumbled. "So we'll train twice as much as usual now?"

"Yes! We're gonna stay up all night to train!" Natsu concluded.

I stumbled on my way up on that squat; where the hell did they plan to fit sleep in with that plan? Did they _want_ to crash?

"Lucy, train your legs more, you almost fell with that one!" Happy said, continuing with nodding his head as a "push up."

Before I got to snap on him though, Natsu said, "I've made a decision." He looked up at me from the ground a smirk on his face that made me stumble again. "We'll do an S-Class job, Lucy!"

I flopped down to the floor when I saw the flyer Happy was holding up, only seeing the reward: seven million jewel.

My money searching eyes concluded: doable.

My mind however connected to my mouth and said, "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?


	10. Chapter 10

It was reckless of me, but I was pushed on by some unseen force, this embodiment of passion, to lean forward and press my lips against his.

He was sculpted, sculpted to the T. Glistening muscles that rippled at the slightest touch, chiseled jaw with a breath taking smile, a scent that made my mouth water and a voice that could send my heart beating a thousands times per second and stop it all at the same time.

I was wearing a bikini for some weird reason, which made this all the more reckless, the feel of those strong arms pressed against my back just sent shockwaves rippling through my body, the absolutely delectable feeling only making me arch my back into his body, until we were molded together.

He had warm, soft lips against my own, a devious, delicious tongue playfully flicking at my own, and an overwhelming feeling that I was safe.

That I was home.

It was always in these dreams that I thought I could live in forever, the thought of someone waking me up from these dreams completely appalled me. I would never want to wake up.

It was weird, because always in the dream, I knew exactly who he was. I always knew every nook and cranny on his body, every detail of his life that he allowed me to know, I knew him _completely._

But when I would wake, the name, the face, slipped from my mind, and I was left with no notion, not even the slightest indication, of who my prince charming was, who those heavenly lips and touches belonged to.

In any event, that's how I woke up from my dream. I was rudely woken up by Happy, who had landed on my head.

I sighed and opened my eyes, looking out at the world, my nose immediately engulfed in a musky, cinnamon ash type smell.

"Are we there yet, Natsu?" I asked from my position on his back.

He turned back to look at me, "We're in Hargeon, so almost. Can you get off now, Luce?"

I nodded and hopped off of his back, chuckling when he stretched a bit and cracked his neck.

Before we left, I had been feeling a bit sleepy, so I had conned Natsu into carrying me to the Port City, telling him that he owed me for causing me so much stress over the S-class job and whatnot.

Of course, he fell for it.

Which resulted in a Natsu ride for me.

We walked on in silence, the shops drifting slowly by as we paced ourselves.

"So, a cursed island, huh?" I asked. "What are the details on this?"

I could almost feel him roll his eyes, "Luce, you never read the job flyers do you?"

I shrugged and clasped my hands behind my back. "It's not like I have to. You always read them."

He gave a weird smile at that then proceeded to tell me the mission details.

We basically had to try and figure out how to lift a curse and then he told me the mission's reward again, but included one detail I hadn't heard of up until that point: I would get a Celestial Key as my reward.

It was perfect!

I grinned the rest of the way, at least until Natsu, Happy and I reached the salty port, where I stopped right in my tracks and reached over to hold Natsu by the back of his shirt when he made a move to dive into the water.

"Luce!" he complained loudly. "Why are you holding me back? Don't tell me you want to find a boat?"

Happy hovered over to my shoulder and sat down. "What other option do we have?" I asked sarcastically. "Swimming is out of the question—"

"Why?"

"Because there's no way I'm getting into murky, potentially shark infested waters, where both of our magic is rendered practically useless. So, our only option, whether we like it or not, is to find a boat to get to Galuna Island, and have Happy look over us while we collapse from motion sickness," I reasoned, nodding to myself.

Natsu could only quirk a pink eyebrow at me and cross his arms over his muscular chest. "Fine."

* * *

"How did this happen, how did this happen how did this happen?" I mumbled under my breath, bemoaning the day we allowed Gray to come with us.

I didn't know at what point he decided it was perfectly fine to escort his exhibitionist ass over to where we were and then just dandily decide that we needed his help.

At first, he tried to swing it as, "Master wants you all to return!" and then he tried to tell us "You might be kicked out of the guild" but in the end, we somehow ended up on Galuna island along with him. I have no idea how the hell it happened, I really don't.

"Erza's going to kill you guys," I mumbled while shaking my head and trudging ahead of Natsu, Happy and Gray.

"EH?" they all said in unison, losing all visible color.

"L-Luce, what makes you the exception? Why wouldn't she kill you?" Natsu asked, trembling.

I turned my nose up and sniffed, "Because there's no way in hell that woman would be able to vanquish me in a fight, I would never fall to such a weak opponent."

There was a beat of silence.

And then all three burst into roaring laughter.

I waited a full minute before I turned on them and punched them all at once into the sky, leaving only a small twinkle as any note that they had been banished by me, the almighty Celestial Dragon Slayer.

* * *

The end of the mission for me came rather abruptly. I went to sleep that night, but for some reason, I blacked out?

I wrapped my arms around my middle as we set foot in Hargeon Port again and Natsu raced ahead of everyone.

How the hell had this happened?

One minute, I was punching everyone's lights out, the next, we were returning from Galuna Island, a new spirit key was in my pocket, Erza was accompanying us, and all three were congratulating me for things I never remembered I did.

I shuffled my feet after them quietly, behind all of them. I shifted my eyes from person to person, noting that they hadn't noticed anything wrong. Occasionally, one of them would try and make me join in, or make some such comment about my fighting style and I would just nod my head then give them a faint smile.

I could only try and reflect on my situation.

Everything felt the same, yet not.

The scent of everything felt…off.

The strong scent of ginger and curry and cumin were far beyond my senses, they felt dull, almost like a mild tickling in my nose rather than how the roar that they were.

Sounds were muffled to some extent, and I had to struggle to hear a conversation across the street.

I grabbed my dragon-scale belt and rubbed my thumb over it, wondering what the hell was wrong.

"Lucy, where are you going?" Natsu asked me, flashing me a brilliant smile when I made to move in the direction of our house instead of the Guildhall as we arrived in Magnolia.

Happy hovered around his shoulders.

I shook my head and limply raised my hand to wave him off, "I'm going home, and you go on ahead."

He shrugged and nodded, then ran in the direction of the guild.

There was no rational reason for me to have such symptoms, I had never gotten sick, not once. I was pretty sure it had to do with being a slayer, but I wasn't sure. So if I had this inborn immunity, then why the hell was I feeling like such complete and utter crap?

It took me a while to do all the usual maneuvering around to get to the house, and when I got there, I didn't even have the strength to open the door and climb inside. I just sort of flopped uselessly onto the welcoming matt and closed my eyes.

And I could only resort to wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

* * *

It was near nighttime when I heard people tromping through the forest that led to Natsu's house, but I couldn't do much more than squint my eyes open pathetically. There was sweat on my forehead I could feel it, and the back of my throat felt as if a colony of phlegm gremlins had made a new home there.

And I didn't even have the energy to move away the blonde hair that was pasted to my forehead like a morbid second skin.

"What the—LUCY WHAT'S WRONG?" went the booming voice of Natsu as he ran over, a chorus of other steps and voices following him.

It was seconds later that I felt myself scooped up from the ground, my head flopping forward uselessly so that my chin was against my chest, warm muscular arms supporting my back and holding my legs up as Natsu carried me inside bridal style, absolutely freaking out.

If I hadn't looked so pathetic at that moment, I might have teased him relentlessly.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Gray asked, probably turning to Erza, whose clinking metal armor was unmistakable.

"I don't know. Maybe Phantom Lord poisoned her?"

I tried to shake my head and say no, but to my horror, only a moaning "Nnnnggh" came out.

Natsu, though, got the picture as he settled me down on the small couch in the house.

"No, she left to the house before we even saw the guildhall completely destroyed. And she's been a bit off since we returned," he said, putting a hand on my forehead then snatching it back and running off somewhere when he probably felt how my forehead was hot.

Strange though since I was freezing and trembling from the cold feeling that enveloped my body like a cruel blanket.

"Hm, do you think that somehow our time on Galuna Island affected her?" Erza asked no one in particular.

I felt a ball of fur land on my stomach, "Haaa-ppy," I mumbled.

"Luce, be quiet," Natsu said, having returned and sounding much more calm then before. I heard a strange drippy-plopping sound, before a wet washcloth was placed upon my head. "You're probably just having a Dragon Fever, it happens every once in a while if you don't eat your element often enough."

At this he sounded a bit grumpy, his hand finding my wrist and squeezing it, "When was the last time you ate your element?"

I shrugged as best I could, "T-t-t-two w-w-weeks?"

"Huh? I didn't know such an illness existed," Erza said, presumably crossing her arms.

"Yeah, Flame-brain, and why have we only heard about it now, considering we've known you for so long," Gray added.

Happy cuddled closer to my face, his tail swishing and tickling my bare, grass-stained belly. My lips twitched up a bit.

Natsu sighed and let go of me, from the sound of it, plopping down on the floor by the couch, his spiky hair brushing against my hand. "Because, it's not something Dragon Slayers like everyone to know. If everyone knew that Dragon Fever existed, then all Dragon Slayers would be dead. The symptoms are enough to kill you; amnesia, dulled senses, loss of energy, fever, until the body itself starts shutting down."

Silence.

"How the hell did you remember all of that?" Gray asked sounding pretty dumbfounded.

"Igneel made me memorize it when I was younger. He said 'What good would my teaching do if you're dead?'"

I could have laughed, it sounded like something Stelliana would say.

"Anyways, Lucy, for your magic what do you eat?" Natsu asked, turning to me. I squinted my eyes open and glanced at him, seeing the concerned glint in his dark eyes.

I swallowed, licked my lips and said as clearly as I could, "Earth. Rocks. Dirt."

And then I kind of fell back asleep.

* * *

I had never intended to be so pathetic. When did I warrant such behavior?

Forgetting to eat…that was the mistake of a small child, not me.

In my dreamscape, I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my knees, heat building behind my eyes. Why was it that no matter what I did, I was still so incredibly weak and stupid?

There were any number of instances in my life where I could have done something different and actually have made myself better, but what I ended up doing was making myself weaker.

I glanced up in my dreamscape, noting that my Prince-charming was approaching.

I only turned my head away and was met with the amber eyes of Stelliana.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked me, hands on her hips. "Get up off your ass and smooch that boy like you always do."

"No," I mumbled, not even questioning why the dragon was in my mind, it was a dream after all, anything could happen.

"You're so damn stupid, Lu-tan, get up and smooch him. It'll make ya better, I promise," she said, leaning back against a tree that had magically appeared, crossing her arms under her ample breasts staring straight ahead.

"I'd kiss him if I could," I mumbled, still not even looking in the direction of mister Charming. "But it's not like I'll remember him once I wake up."

Stelliana rolled her eyes, "Sometimes, you really are stupid. Look, I'm going to answer all of your questions right now, since you're too preoccupied with self-pity over there, Miss Heartfilia. When have you been pathetic? You're pathetic only when you let yourself get into these stupid moods. Why are you incredibly weak? You're damn blind, kid; you're stronger than most wizards I have ever known. Why are you stupid? Now that one, I really don't know about. You've always been my stupid son."

She shrugged, closing her eyes.

I sighed, and then looked at the ground in front of me, noticing that a pair of familiar sandals was in front of me. I blinked twice, and was about to crane my neck up to see that the feet belonged to before I was completely wrenched from the dreamscape, my only hint was a flash of black.

* * *

I woke up groggily, finding myself in my hammock next to Natsu's, my hair fanned across my starry pillow. I pushed myself up gingerly, noting the aches in my body.

Sighing, I looked around, twitching a bit when I saw Erza and Gray lying on the ground on sleeping bags. Why were they here again?

And more importantly, were they going to mess up all of my hard work?

I hopped off of the Hammock; my limbs wobbly like a newborn foal. I scooted my butt on over to the front door, and stepped out to sit on the stoop.

My dream…why did I have a feeling that Stelliana was in it?

I wrung my hands out, staring at the tree line, and then a little bit afterwards, I heard someone wake up and start fumbling around in the house. A few minutes later, the front door opened behind me and someone slipped out to sit next to me.

I didn't turn to look at them, just kept my eyes on the dark crevices of the tree.

"Luce, are you alright?" Natsu asked me, his hand landing on my bare shoulder.

All I could do was nod, "I guess. I don't feel sick anymore, at least physically."

He scooted closer to me and slung his arm around my shoulder, "Yeah. I got Dragon Fever right after Igneel left, I was so focused on finding him that I wouldn't eat, so I know what you mean. You just feel down, am I right?" he asked me.

"Yeah, pretty much," I said, turning to look at him. Natsu wasn't as big an idiot as he usually made himself out to be. He _was_ an idiot, but he was also pretty damn smart when he wanted to be.

"You have to be more careful, okay?" he said, with a somewhat sad somewhat angry tone of voice. "The guildhall got destroyed yesterday while we were gone."

My jaw dropped.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't completely sad from the way his other fist was clenching, the tendons straining below his skin.

"Who did it?" I asked, my eyes wide, and my body tensing up.

He was silent for a minute, but then I saw the tell tale flames of anger start flickering around his fingers, then his entire right hand was engulfed in flames. "Phantom Lord."


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Gray and Erza had woken up, I had gone inside with Natsu and pulled on a pair of shorts, a coat that reached mid thigh and a sleeveless top that left my stomach exposed. I stood by them, watching the sunlight filter in from a nearby window, highlighting the little spokes in the air while Natsu heated up some coffee for all of us, which I took gratefully when he handed it over to us.

But even that small act of kindness couldn't wipe away the cold hard truth that was placed in my lap that morning.

Phantom Lord.

Phantom Lord had destroyed our guild.

The sentence just kept circling around in my head like a sick mantra, or incantation for destruction.

As we walked away from the house, Happy happily hitching a ride in my arms, a somber silence enveloped us all. It was only punctuated by the concerned questions of Erza and Gray.

Natsu kept silent, more than likely knowing that I was slowly getting back up to my usual level of strength.

But I really couldn't focus on my own health.

Fairy Tail was a big family, and the guildhall was our home, it was the place we would go to after missions and receive warm welcomes from everyone, where we got lectured by Master Makarov and had friendly brawls.

And to have someone demolish it…

I hadn't even seen it with my own eyes, but just from Gray's gruesome description of giant steel pillars, hundreds of them, impaling the guild I flinched.

Why would anyone go as far as to destroy a guildhall?

Wasn't it explicitly against the rules the Magic Council set up for mages for guilds to fight each other?

I thought about all of this as we breached the tree line and entered the town, hearing people gasp from the direction of the park.

Immediately, Natsu and I turned to each other with significant looks and then taking off in the direction of the horrified sounds.

Happy bounced off of my forearms and transformed his wings, flying ahead of us as Natsu and I fell into a dead sprint, Gray and Erza yelling questions behind us, before they went silent and finally heard exactly what we had.

We elbowed and pushed our way through the crowds, and when we finally reached the front, we stopped still, looking up at the giant cherry blossom tree in the park, where Team Shadow Gear was hung up and beaten.

Next to me, I felt the heat of Natsu's flames as he got incredibly furious, an inferno of intense rage.

I did a half turn when I heard Master Makarov, I didn't say anything to him at all, but I think he got the picture when he saw my fists clenched, small pebbles beginning to fly to my hands.

It was like I broke though. Deep inside me, a dam broke, and tears started coursing down my face and the pebbles fell limply to the ground while Makarov screamed, "THIS IS WAR!"

I flinched violently and wrapped my arms around my middle, staring up at the faces of Levy, Jet and Droy.

I didn't know why I was so scared in that moment, instead of completely furious like I had been just a few seconds before the master screamed. Was it that in the deep recesses of my mind, that kind of aggressive screaming reminded me of my father?

"Damn it," I heard next to me, before arms wrapped around me and my head was tucked in under Natsu's chin. "Lucy, are you going to be okay?"

I wiped my nose and nodded, "Yeah, just let me get them down from here and take them to the hospital."

"Lucy!" Master called.

I whipped around on my heel and looked down at him, nearly throwing down Natsu in the process. "Yes, sir?"

"Please stay here and help Levy, Jet and Droy while they are in the hospital. We have a mission to take care of, and I couldn't think of a better person than you to take care of them," he said, nodding as happy flew towards Natsu's shoulder from the direction of the town, where all of Fairy Tail was gathering for some self-proclaimed mission.

I gave a nod and turned around to the tree then glancing at Natsu, who still had his arms awkwardly around me.

"You sure you'll be okay, Luce?" he asked me, his black eyes staring into my and searching my face for some sign that I was still sick. In the background, I heard people calling for Natsu to hurry up. I could have laughed when he twitched and yelled at them to shut the hell up.

I nodded and flashed him what I hoped was a reassuring smile, "I'll be fine, Master gave me a mission, and you have a mission too! So get to it!"

* * *

Taking care of Levy, Jet and Droy wasn't all that hard.

I was alone in Magnolia with them, but the townspeople were extremely kind and some would even stop by with food for me or for a quick chat.

I guess they had seen me around Natsu for so long that they all believed he might be my only friend.

But they were wrong: Natsu wasn't my only friend he was my Nakama.

Just as everyone in Fairy Tail was my Nakama.

At first, when I joined, I didn't know what to think of the whole Nakama thing, it seemed like some strange collective hallucination the whole guild was having. How can such a huge group of people be so close knit?

But after being in Fairy Tail for a while, I realized how wrong I was.

We were one collective entity, one giant Fairy Tail, and we defended each other like no other.

The pillow that Levy's head was on seemed a bit flat, so I got up from my position at the door, guarding them and walked over to the closet, where I fetched three fluffed pillows and swiped off any lint of dust that might have been leftover on the white cloth. When I finished, I went to all of their beds, lifted them up gingerly, swiped out the flat pillow and swiped in the fluffy pillow.

I did that for all three of them, and then I got a bit fed up with the dirty sheets and their soiled bandages.

I went into the hallway to call a nurse to come help me change Team Shadow Gear's bandages, because no matter how much of a super friend I thought myself to be, I was no nurse.

When she came, we worked silently. I held up their bodies for the nurse while scanning their bodies for anything that we had to change while she was in the room.

When we finished with the bandages, she escorted herself, out only tweaking the amount of pain killer they were getting on the way out.

And I resumed my spot at the door, keeping a silent vigil over my charges.

I must have been falling asleep when I started thinking about what a mess the room would have been if Natsu was with me.

He'd like people to think he was a huge slob, and he totally was, but when it came to other people, his friends, he would be careful. He would have been persistent in helping the nurses, trying to feed Team Shadow Gear even though they had an IV that gave them all the necessary nutrients.

I laughed, thinking of how he had the potential to burn down the entire hospital while trying to eat fire.

The laugh died in my throat.

When I tried to nibble on a pebble I about made the head nurse faint and smack me on the head about eating proper food.

My eye twitched.

That wasn't a very good experience.

Around five in the afternoon, I got up, waved off the nurses and headed into town to grab some food.

I wasn't really paying attention too much; I was just looking for this little Café that had really good bagels and coffee.

My skin got cold, that creepy feeling I always got when a cloud got in front of the sun, and the air was suddenly flooded with the heavy scent of humidity and then the little drip-drops of cold rain hitting my skin.

I craned my neck up to look at the sky, holding my hand to my brow bone to shield it from the sun. "Huh? Why is it raining? The sun is still out!"

I barely had time to whip around when I heard two distinctive sounds:

"Steadily and silently…Juvia is the rainwoman, Juvia will capture her target."

"Non non non!"

And then a horrible sense of drowning filled me, as I was encased it what I could only describe as a giant sphere of water.

As I passed out, I could only think that I failed Master Makarov, Natsu, and Team Shadow Gear.

* * *

I didn't know where the hell I was when I came to; all I knew was that I felt like absolute shit. My senses were in overdrive.

It was moist—no, it smelled like mold. There was a faint dripping sound behind me, and the faint smell of moss of near a corner. And the strongest scent of all though was the cold stone that my cheek was pressed against.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was locked in a cell, sitting on stone. It wasn't really the best quality stone I had seen, but if worse came to worst, I could always gnaw on it and get a magical power boost.

I quickly scanned myself, noting that whoever had kidnapped me had foolishly left my legs loose and had only thought to bind my hands. My Spirit Keys were suspiciously missing, but other than the dirty clothes, I was fine.

I swung myself up using my legs as leverage, and then I rolled onto the balls of my feet.

My eyes focused directly at the door as I fiddled with the rope that was binding my wrists. Some part of me probably felt a bit insulted that my kidnappers believed flimsy _rope_ to be enough to hold me back, and the other part of me was just kind of relieved that it was that easy to get out of my bindings.

The rope came loose and fell to the floor limply while I inched towards the door, tensing myself incase my kidnappers decided to show their faces.

And right as I was going to push my hand out to grab the doorknob, I found myself face to face with blinding light and a dour face.

My impulse: jump three feet in the air with a girly shriek.

And did I do it?

I would have liked to say I didn't, but I kind of did.

I could only thank the heavens that no one except the old fart in front of me was there to witness the destruction of my hard-earned reputation.

"Ah, Lady Heartfilia, have you tired so much of your accommodations that you're trying to leave?" he said, looking at my unbound hands.

I glared at him and sneered, "What the hell do you think, asshole?"

He twitched. "Not much of a lady, are you? Especially considering you are the heiress to the Heartfilia Konzern."

I was in the middle of crossing my arms underneath my breasts when I froze.

How the hell did he know?

"Who the hell are you?" I snarled, ready to cock my fist back.

"I am Jose Porla, Master of the magic guild Phantom Lord," he said, quite proudly. "And I am here to take you back to your father, who has hired us, and is in need of you."

All color drained from my face.

He was the one who had organized this?

Phantom Lord?

The guild that had destroyed Team Shadow Gear?

Phantom Lord, who had destroyed our guildhall?

It was these people who had kidnapped me?

And it was my father who had hired them to cause such strife in my guild?

"You can tell my father," I began, looking down at the ground, bringing my fists by my hips. Then I whipped my head up, glaring at this Jose guy in the eye. "That he can go to hell. I'm not going back with him!"

The old fart laughed at my declaration, and only began walking toward me, probably to restrain me.

But a split second before he reached towards me, I noticed the door was open, so I did the logical thing and feinted a right hook towards his face, and when he dodged I twisted around on the spot and rammed my knee into his crotch in the most fundamental self-defense move ever.

When he fell to the ground in excruciating pain, I ran to the door and over the threshold, but stopped dead in place when I saw that I was at least fifty feet off the ground. Blood was pulsing in my ear, adrenaline pumping through my system, and the jittery urge to fight or flee was at the forefront of my mind. Either one spelled imminent death in my case.

Yet, in the distance, I heard something distinctive, a loud shout.

I looked up and bit my lip, then turned to look back at Jose, who was waddling up from his position on the floor.

"You have nowhere to go now," the old fart croaked, cradling his crotch.

I didn't pay him any mind. All I did was take a few steps near the threshold, before I got a running start and leapt off the side of the tower.

I yelled his name at the top of my lungs: "NATSUUUUUU!"

What ran through my head though was: _If you don't catch me and I die, I'm going to freaking kill you!_

There were a couple of seconds where I felt a terrifying nothingness below my feet or anywhere near me, my hair streaming up in the air, and I had closed my eyes shut to protect them from any flying debri.

But then, I heard a loud roar, an unmistakable Dragon Roar, as a pair of muscled arms caught me in a warm, familiar embrace, and then as he twisted around in air to take the brunt of the fall.

We collided into a brick wall and it tumbled all around us like a child's wooden blocks.

The immense relief that I felt…there were no words to describe it, so I gave a sort of broken smile and looked down at Natsu, muttering my thanks for catching me, not even caring that my breast was in his face.

However, when I rolled off of him and he inspected me for any injuries, he was going to charge right back up to Jose and beat him up.

I really don't know what came over me, but I burst into tears and shook my head.

"Please Natsu, no, can we…can we just home? Please?" I cried out, all the spunk having left me as quickly as the adrenaline had, left only a sad little Lucy-husk.

He did this weird little thing; where he stepped forward and went to reach his hand out to me—opening and closing his mouth to speak—and then he snatched his hand back turned away from me and ran it through his hair. He bounced on the balls of his feet a few times before turning back around to me, flashing me a grin and saying, "Yeah, Luce, let's go home, I left Happy with Erza anyways."

And then he helped me stand up, grabbed my arm and made me sling it over his shoulder.

I wasn't in the mood to tell him I could walk perfectly fine; I was just in the mood to enjoy this small comfort, the speeding up of my heart, and to cry my damn eyes out.

It was my damn fault: always.

* * *

I honestly think that it was sometime on my way home that I realized it.

It wasn't as if my whole world was crashing in on me enough, but I realized something earth shattering, something that I just had to keep to myself.

A secret that I would have to take to the grave with me.

All this time, I had never known who it was in my dream that would touch me tenderly, that would make all my dreams of a man come to fruition…I was so stupid to have never known.

The familiar embrace, the toned muscles, the sandals…

…the _pink_ hair.

Natsu.

It was always Natsu in those dreams.

And he could never know.

I mean, maybe it was a stupid hero worship type thing?

Ever since he saved me from the asshole Salamander impostor in Hargeon, I guess I had admired him, hell I had admired him before I even met him, reading up about everything he destroyed in Sorcerer's Weekly.

I looked at him from the corner of my eye, noting how he was looking straight forward, his eyes set in determination.

No, it wasn't hero-worship. I had fallen for him...

It was in the way he was determined to fight for what he believed in.

It was in the way he was fiercely protective of those he held dear.

It was in the way he was so damn stupid that he made me crack up.

It was in the way that he ate all my vegetarian food, even though I knew he was dying to eat a spicy chicken drumstick.

It was in the way that he annoyed the absolute crap out of me sometimes.

It was in the way he took a complete stranger into his house and took care of her.

And those were the exact reasons why he couldn't know.

I bit my cheek so hard that I felt a gush of copper on the inside of my mouth.

He was too good for me.

And there was no way in hell that I was going to ruin our friendship because I thought that he was the one.

No.

I _knew.  
_

I loved Natsu Dragneel—but he was never going to know about it.


	12. Chapter 12

The guild was getting ready for war.

There were people calling for bomb lacrimas, people order other people around to find this magical weapon or that, people sharpening or cleaning their weapons…it was a guild that was on the dawn of a full on combat scenario.

And I was to blame.

If only my father weren't so stuck up so as to believe that he needed an entire guild to capture me, then maybe I would have listened to a polite request for me to go home.

Or maybe I would have crumbled to pieces any messenger that came to me with that message.

And then I had to wonder, why did he send an entire guild after me? Wouldn't a small request for a few people have done? After all, he had only needed two of the Element Four to capture me…

But then again wasn't that just the result of circumstance, too? If the Dragon Fever hadn't already weakened me or if I had already fully recovered from the Dragon Fever, then I wouldn't have been kidnapped that easily by the Element Four. And if I wasn't so emotionally drained from taking care of Team Shadow Gear, not that I blamed them for my having been kidnapped.

And how much did my father really know about me? Had he finally realized what power I wielded simply because of my magic teacher? Were my Mama and Father even aware that a dragon had trained me?

I pulled my legs up in my chair and wrapped my arms around my knees hopelessly.

I had so many unanswered questions, but would I ever get the answers to them?

My eyes wandered over to the pink haired idiot that unknowingly had my heart, watching how he was getting into a petty argument with Gray over how to best destroy Phantom Lord.

He was oblivious, he really was.

I sighed and could only bite the inside of my cheek hard when I spotted Cana off with Mira, searching through her cards so that she could find one of the S-Class Mages of Fairy Tail named Mystogan, while Mira was using a giant crystal ball to contact Laxus.

That must've ended fabulously, considering how Mirajane managed to disintegrate the crystal ball with a mere tap of her fist on the solid crystal.

I didn't know when I tears started to fall from my eyes again, it must've been when I started cataloguing everyone's injuries for the fifth time since arriving back with Natsu.

Or when Gray and Natsu began speaking of the injuries, and noticed that I was crying.

They came over to me and I guess they tried their best to comfort me.

"What's up? Are you still worried?" Gray asked me coolly, in only that cold yet smirk-y "everything is going to be alright" way that he had.

"Huh?" I said, bring up my hand to wipe my cheek. Then I muttered weakly, "No, it's not that, I-I'm super p-pumped for the fight…!"

"Lucy…" Happy said and flew into my lap. I plopped my hand on top of his head, stroking his blue fur.

"I'm sorry…"

Elfman join in on the conversation at that point, towering over Gray. "Well, I think daughters from rich families are destined to get targeted by bad guys. And it's a man's duty to protect them."

Gray looked up at him, frowning, "Don't say things like that."

Happy then looked up at me, "But I'm surprised too Lucy, why were you hiding it?"

I looked away from them, pulling a loose lock of hair behind my ear. "I wasn't really hiding it. I mean, I gave you guys my last name and everything. I guess since I ran away from home…I just didn't want to talk about it…my father, he didn't care about the daughter that constantly ran away from him and had been gone for a year…and now, out of the blue, he wants me back…"

I furrowed my brows together, feeling the familiar anger bubbling inside of me, "Father did this so that he could get me back…he's an asshole. But…everything happened because I ran away from home in the first place, right…?"

"N-NO, THAT'S NOT RIGHT! Father is the bad one!" Elfman yelled.

"IDIOT!" Gray snapped.

"Ah…I mean…PHANTOM LORD!" he amended clumsily.

I could only continue on, looking down at the stone floor. "Because of my selfish actions… I can't believe I caused so much trouble for everyone…I'm really sorry…everything would be better if I just went back to the mansion, I guess."

"Is that what you think?" Natsu said, giving a cute little smirk. I looked up at him, surprised that he was talking after being silent for a while. "I mean, the term 'Lady' doesn't really suit you, does it?"

"What the hell does that mean?" I muttered darkly, my fist cocking back out of reflex.

"You fit in better in this dirty bar, laughing and merrily going out on adventures with m—us. You said you want to stay with us. What good would it do for you to return to a place you hate? You're Lucy of Fairy tail, right?" he said, grinning and pointing his thumb at his chest. "This is your home."

I gave him a watery grin, my lips wanting to twitch down to cry, my face flushing. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that he was implying that my place was in his heart.

Sadly, my rational mind convinced me otherwise.

"Don't cry; it doesn't suit you," Gray said tactlessly.

"He's right! Men are weak to tears!"

"But…" I said and started blubbering again, sending the boys into a flurry to cheer me right back up.

And then suddenly, there was a giant rumbling sound and a towel clad Erza went streaking through the guild, for all intents and purposes flashing her girly parts at everyone.

Everyone ran outside, Gray and Natsu flanking me, where we all gaped at the huge monstrosity that was wading through the water approaching Magnolia. My heart jumped into the base of my throat and I just couldn't breathe.

"The guild is walking…!"

"Is it Phantom Lord?"

Erza stood at the front of all of us, trembling in her towel, as guild members panicked all over the place.

I didn't have to tear my eyes away from the six-legged walking guild to know that I was trembling too, my mouth opening and closing like an unattractive trout.

Then, out of one of the windows in the guild, a giant CANNON appeared out of the side and begun collecting light, charging itself up. At which point, Erza jumped around and yelled at us, "This is bad! EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"

But at that point I was already freaking out and had taken off to the front of the crowd next to Erza, summoning magic to my hands.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

"IS THAT A FUC—"

"YES! IT'S A MAGIC CONVERGENT CANNON!"

By the time Erza had turned around and told everybody to get down, she had realized that I was at the front, kneeling, pumping my magic into the ground, willing it to mold in the form I had in my mind's eye.

When she finally reached me, she was wearing something the guild members were calling Adamantine armor.

"LUCY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! THEY WANT _YOU!" _she yelled at me, closing her shield in around both of us.

I didn't answer, I just focused on my breathing as I muttered, "Secret Celestial Art: Impenetrable Dragon!"

As I muttered that, a huge amount of magic draining away from me and into the ground as my hair whipped around with the force of the wind. But the crux of it were the combined gasps of those who saw the cannon firing at us, and those who saw Erza protecting me while I summoned the sturdiest shield known to Dragons.

Stones rumbled and shifted out of place from the ground and started collecting in an outward facing dome, at least five feet deep, soldering into place right as the canon blasted Erza and I.

It was when I cut off my magic form the completed shield that I heard the concern yells and shrieks of the guild as I huddled up as close to Erza as possible, my eyes widening along with hers when the Dragon Shield started pushing up against her shield and nudging me forward.

I glanced at her eyes, and when they met, we came to a silent agreement.

Simultaneously, we rose up from the ground, gritting our teeth we dug our feet into the ground and gave a war cry, pushing back just as much on the wall, to prevent it from collapsing in on us.

But at the last second, I felt it and I tried my damnedest to push Erza the hell away when I felt the stone giving way.

I threw her back a few meters and was able to summon my own stone armor, the small stones that had crumbled off from the stone shield covering me like a solidified meteor shower as the shield collapsed and caught both Erza and I in the brunt of the fall.

I covered my head with my gauntleted hands as I felt the heat of the weakening canon wafting off of me, and when it finally dissipated and fizzled out I raised my head weakly, feeling the sudden magic loss weigh deeply in my bones and muscles. I rolled back from my crouched down position on my haunches, to flop down on my ass, letting the stones fall uselessly around me.

After a few seconds, I wondered why everyone was taking so long to get to us and fret, when I looked up and saw the gaping sinkholes left in the ground from my sudden removal of the cobbled stones.

But it seemed, as always, Gray and Natsu were the first to realize how to get across, one burning the ground under his feet as he ran to harden the gumbo-like soil to a tougher, passable surface, the other making an ice walkway.

As they ran, I caught sight of Erza, who was a bit away from me and was making her way to me. I crawled the rest of the way and collapsed next to her, grinning.

She could only give me a weak glare, "That was irresponsible, Lucy."

I only grinned at her more until she finally broke down and gave me a small smile, "Good job. If it weren't for that shield, I probably would have lost this armor and been knocked out."

"LUUUUUCY!"

"EEEERZA!"

We didn't really have much time to even look at each other and roll our eyes considering the two blurs (plus Happy who was buzzing around in the sky) started looking us over for injuries. Half of that brief time, I didn't notice who was manhandling me, Natsu or Gray, but I did know that they both grinned—Natsu's huge, face-splitting grin and Gray's cool smirk.

Gray turned around and yelled, "THEY'RE OKAY!"

And upon yelling that, I saw and heard the distinctive celebration of the guild, people jumping up and down and Cana finding a beer keg out of who knows where.

I smiled at them, tiredly, and then gave a gasp of surprise as I was hauled up from my position on the floor in a huge bear hug from Natsu.

My cheeks flushed in that moment, the side of my head up against his cheek, and I could almost let myself imagine in that moment that his hug was something that it clearly wasn't.

After a few moments, he let me go and held up something that made me give a tired smile.

In his extended palm was a stone, a smooth gray rock with flecks of orange-ish yellow sandstone peppering the top.

Honestly, I could have kissed him in that moment, considering how low my magic was and how much I needed to munch on a stone right now.

Then, the Porla Asshole made an announcement that chilled me straight to the bone.

"You will not be able to defend against the second shot without Makarov! You don't stand a chance. Hand over Lucy Heartfilia right now! Hand her over! You have fifteen minutes!"

Behind us, the guild went from a celebratory mood, straight back into the pissed off uproar and shouting.

Guilt sunk into my stomach as my fist closed in around Natsu's stone.

I…

I wanted to stop all this.

Narrowing my eyes, I brought the stone close to my lips. I fully intended on consuming the stone so that I could give myself up. It wasn't necessary to endanger everyone because of me. I didn't want anyone to get hurt because of me: it simply wasn't necessary.

But before I had the chance to bite into the stone, Mirajane had appeared and cast a spell on me.

My vision blurred with sleepiness as I heard Natsu's muffled, "WHAT THE HELL MIRA?"

* * *

When I woke up, I was in some sort of a safe house, Reedus carrying me.

Needless to say, I felt a bit offended that Mira had knocked me out, but I pushed that down when I remembered the whole guild was getting torn to pieces because of me. I rolled out of Reedus' arms and landed on my feet, stumbling a bit away from him when he reached out to get me again.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a stone, popping it into my mouth and crunching it down into a fine gritty paste I could swallow, while backing away from Reedus.

When I licked my lips and _felt_ the lovely stone slither down my throat and plop into my stomach, I almost immediately felt the electricity of magic start to course through my veins and lift me up from my slumped position. But it was during that single moment of respite that Reedus go knocked out and an entire wall was blown out, leaving a huge guy with long spiky black hair, a face full of piercings and a nasty look on his face.

I didn't waste any time, crouching down and leaping at him with my fist cocked back, covering itself in stone, "CELESTIAL GAUNTLET!"

Metal-Face's head snapped back quickly, and he went flying out a few paces, a huge bruise bound to appear on his face.

"You bitch!" he yelled, cocking his own arms back to do something.

I didn't give him a chance, because soon enough, I had inhaled and line my lungs with magic, then I released it all in one fell swoop, yelling, "CELESTIAL DRAGON'S ROAR!"

"FUC—!" He yelled jumping out of the way of my roar.

"Dammit," I said closing my mouth and twisting around to attack him again when I felt my leg snag on something extremely sharp on the ground, the copper smell flooding my nose and a sudden wet feeling dripping from the middle of my calf down over my ankles.

I really didn't get a chance to fight back, because in that moment, the guy, who I realized was the Iron Dragon Slayer from Phantom Lord, smashed his fist into my face and knocked me right out.

It really was happening too much to me lately.

But luckily, there was never anyone around to see me be so pathetic, especially Natsu.


	13. Chapter 13

I awoke to my wrists shackled and raw and my legs dangling down. As soon as my eyes opened I looked up through the curtain of my stringy and bloody hair, my brown eyes meeting up with that damned Dragon Slayer that had captured me and injured Reedus.

His eyes were disgusting, and the piercing on his face just made me think that he had some sick fetish thing going on with his life.

I leaned forward in my bondage, after a quick glance confirmed that I was shackled to stone, and pulled my arms forward, wincing when I felt that horrible warning '_crick'_ that my bones were going to pop out of place.

It was horrible really, because before I even got the chance to actually try and rip my arms off and run around as the Fiore's first Double Amputee Dragon Slayer, the bastard launched a dagger at me that whizzed by my head and cracked the stone behind me.

I leaned back into my defenseless position and winced: that was _way_ too close to my body.

But then I realized something when he threw another dagger and my stomach muscles fluttered from how close it was to my body.

Every time he threw a dagger and crack the stone covered wall behind me; flecks of the stone would go flying off along with a small bit of dust. Sure, it wouldn't be enough to get me to full power, but all I needed was enough magic to get down from the shackles and then devour the stones that I had in my pockets.

And thus, I formulated a plan.

Instead of staring up defiantly, I bowed my head and squeezed my eyes shut, forcing tears through my eyes and a squeak out of my mouth every time I heard the thud of the dagger, forcing myself to tremble, but in reality what I was doing was sucking up what dust and flecks of stone I could, and feeling my magic go up in small increments.

But then the bastard stopped launching the daggers and lumbered on over to me, grabbing my face roughly so he was squishing my cheeks and forced my head up to look at him in the eye, looking blankly at me.

I know I probably looked pathetic and weak in that moment, and I had the biggest urge to rip out his spine and beat him with it, but I didn't, instead resigning myself to giving a meek little whimper.

I was so focused in looking weak that I really didn't see his iron encrusted hand come flying at me and sock me in the stomach.

The façade fell in that moment, and all I could do was cough and hoarsely call out, "B-Bastard!"

I didn't even get much of a break before the first returned again, making my head whip to the side and my cheek smash into the stone behind me, blood spurting out of my mouth and coating my mouth in a revolting coppery taste.

"I don't know why you're guild is defending you, you're just some bitch with cash and no magical talent. And you're a slayer, aren't you?" he said gruffly. "The weakest Dragon Slayer I've ever seen—" he punched me again in the stomach, and this time I spat out blood-speckled spit—"You don't even _deserve_ the title of Dragon Slayer."

That pissed me right the hell off.

"You're stupid, you don't even know what guild you're messing with! You have no idea, you're messing with the most dangerous guild in the world!" I yelled, smirking.

I tugged at the shackles again, gathering my strength to pull, not caring if I pulled my arms out of place, "Do whatever the hell you want with me, just know that as soon as you end me, you'll end up incurring the wrath of all of Fairy Tail!"

He let go of my face at that moment, giving a horrible "Gih hee" type laugh as he threw another little dagger, this one aimed at my chest, right over my heart.

I gritted my teeth, readying myself for impact, for the wet thud of the dagger as it would enter my chest, maybe the ripping of flesh as it drove a hole straight into the stone wall behind me?

But as soon as I let myself wonder morbidly about my death, a fireball of energy burst through the wall, stone flying everywhere, and kicked the dagger off path.

"THANKS NATSU!" I yelled in gratitude, taking a deep breath and consuming all of the stones I could.

Once I felt the familiar surge of magic pulsing through my veins, I quickly pushed my magic back into the stone, and shifted them so that the shackles fell apart.

When I fell to the ground on my hands and knees, I looked up to see Natsu in a fierce battle with the Iron Dragon Slayer, his face consumed in determination and rage, tongues of flame lashing out off of his body as he did flips and jumps to dodge and then lashed back with Dragon Claws and Punches, blood coursing down his face. Then I cursed under my breath when I saw that Natsu was seemed to be losing though, my mind seeing how Gajeel would throw his own attacks, lethal blades, and how Natsu would just barely dodge it in time, a fresh wound dripping blood appearing on his body.

"DON'T GET SO DAMN COCKY!" Gajeel yelled, slicing at Natsu with another blade that extended out from his arm.

When Natsu flipped out of the way, getting nicked by the sharp edge in the process, Gajeel said, "I think it's time we ended this, Salamander."

Natsu could only smirk, using his Dragon hide scarf to wipe away a bit of blood that was dribbling down his chin with his thumb, "I'm just getting started, ya scrap metal bastard."

And then they began fighting again, fiercer and fiercer each time.

As soon as I pushed myself up and onto my feet, I bounced on the balls of my feet and looked for any opening in the fight while casting one of my best defense spells, "Celestial Dragon Armor: Comet's Might!"

I stared at the battle while magic interlaced with my cells, creating a tight protective shell of yellow magic, glowing like the trail of a comet and the intensity of stars, as I noticed Natsu gain the upper hand for a bit, as soon as the magic finished, I grinned and threw myself in.

I jumped into the air when I saw Natsu body slam Gajeel and then he retreated quickly when he saw me charging, I launched myself on Gajeel with a fist drop, having reeled my fist back and let it smash down on his body, beaming like a maniac when I saw his armor crack.

I backed off quickly when I saw him inhale though, and I got myself next to Natsu, both us inhaling as well, filling our lungs up with magic, magical arrays appearing in front of us and then releasing it in a huge rumbling roar.

"IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!"

"CELESTIAL DRAGON'S ROAR!"

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"

And then all three roars collided in three turrets; one gray, one a fiery vortex, and the last a bright yellow glow and then creating a huge, explosive ball of energy as we finished the roar.

I didn't even have time to think as Natsu snatched my hand and turned around, running like all hell was breaking loose as the giant ball of energy exploded, causing the foundation of the guild to start shaking and fall.

"Dammit!" Natsu said, grabbing my around the waist pulling me under him so he would both take the brunt of the fall and cover me, fire blazing up from his back as he murmured a spell underneath his breath that I didn't even know he had: "Fire Dragon's Inferno Armor!"

But when I saw the giant chunks of ceiling start to fall on us, I cursed, pretty damn sure that Natsu had made the spell up all on his own, so I added my magic to his, "Celestial and Fire Dragon Armor!"

I only saw briefly, as the spell succeeded: fire, glowing yellow and stones stopping the debris right as they hit our barrier.

We were there for a few minutes, blood pounded in my ears as I felt Natsu's breath on my neck, his spiky pink hair tickling me.

I didn't even notice the pain from how his arm was pulling tight on the places where Gajeel slammed his iron-coated fist on me.

When all the debris and landings stopped falling on us, I opened my eyes standing up along with Natsu, wrapping my arms around my armor-covered middle when he let go of me.

"Lucy, you're scary!" came a familiar voice. I looked up to see the dusty looking blue cat.

"Happy!" I said grinning, opening my arms to hold him.

He let his transform magic dissipate and hopped into my arms, while I extended my magic over him to keep him guarded, grinning when he said, "Whoa!"

I took a glance at Natsu as he looked around, kicking things away in an effort to search for the Iron Bastard.

"Where did you learn Armor Magic?" I asked him, catching up to him by hopping on what few pieces of foundation were left intact.

He glanced at me intensely, some blood crusting around his eye and his cheek puffing up, then he gave me a grin and rubbed the back his neck, "I saw you and Erza use Armor all the time, so I thought that making my own Armor spell would just make me that much more undefeatable!"

I could only laugh at his reasoning as we continued to search for Gajeel.

We didn't get to search much because soon enough, he popped up out of nowhere, the scaling of his iron armor even more obvious now, while he ate a piece of metal that had fallen.

"HOW COME YOU GET TO EAT?" Natsu yelled, supremely annoyed from the sound of it.

"Not the time to be thinking that!" I yelled, jumping in front of him with my back to Gajeel, gritting my teeth when I felt the barrage of metal spears colliding with my armor and smashing against my back.

That was the thing with my Comet Armor; unlike my stone armor, which give me the impenetrable bulky protection of stone and was more fore defense and haymaker punches, my Comet Armor was more for dealing out swift, hot damage to put my enemies down quick and had lower defenses. It could filter out debris, because of the hot, sheer radiance of it being able to disintegrate objects, but when high-speed projectiles were thrown at it, I'd get some of the damage before my armor was able to repel and incinerate it.

"Natsu!" I called when the spears stopped. "Get some fire, will ya?"

"HOW?" he said, popping out from behind me and appearing by Gajeel, ramming his heel into our opponent's face.

"Ugh, I'll figure it out!" I said, looking down at Happy as I thought, then looking right back up when I felt both slayers hurling towards me.

I jumped out of the way, "WATCH WHERE YOU THROW THAT HUNK OF METAL, DAMMIT!"

"GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT, LUCE! GET THE FIRE ALREADY!"

And then Natsu fell and my heart plummeted. I stayed silent, as he didn't get up from the ground for a while. I made to step forward, but Happy stopped me, "Hold on, Natsu's not running on empty yet.

And then, like clockwork, he pushed himself up, more blood visible on his face then skin.

I panicked. I didn't want Natsu to get hurt anymore for me.

"Your sorry guild is in shambles. Let it go, it's over," Gajeel said, slamming his knee into Natsu's face, knocking him back. "Get on your knees, Salamander!"

Then I felt the weight presence of a key in my back pocket.

Sagittarius.

He was supposed to be the archer, so if he could produce fire…!

But, I hadn't made my contract with Sagittarius, so would the Spirit obey my command?

I had to give it a try!

I whipped out the key and waved it in the air, "Open, gate to the centaur! Sagittarius!"

And with a flourish, a guy in a horse suit appeared, saluting me, "Yes, you called?"

I got straight down to business, "Can you make fire?"

"No, I'm sorry but I cannot," he said, looking at the fight that was going on.

"Dammit," I cursed, looking around and wincing when Natsu told me to back off so he could keep fighting.

"Natsu, switch!" I said, trembling when I saw how badly he was getting beaten up.

"No!" he roared. "They want you, Lucy, how many times do we have to tell you to let us defend you?"

"YOU IDIOT!" I yelled brokenly. "I never asked you to!"

"You didn't HAVE TO!" he yelled straight back, receiving a punch to the face.

"You're going to die here today, Salamander," Gajeel said, preparing another round of his spears.

"TH JUPITER CANON, ELEMENTAL FOUR…HE'S USED TOO MUCH OF HIS MAGIC! IF ONLY HE HAD SOME FIRE TO EAT, HE'D KICK YOUR ASS!" Happy yelled from my arms.

At which point, I dropped Happy and ran into the fray again, my heart pounding with every pump of my legs as I ran.

But I didn't head towards Natsu to protect him.

I slid underneath Gajeel, ramming his legs out from under him, growling for all I was worth, "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HURT HIM ANYMORE, BASTARD!"

And then I took Natsu's place, noting morbidly that all the stones in the world wouldn't give me enough stamina to keep up with my dwindling magic. Considering that my armor drained me significantly, and eventually the stones I ate wouldn't be able to keep up with the deficit of magic.

My head snapped up when he clipped me underneath the jaw, I felt my ribs cracking when he following with a quick roundhouse kick—but I didn't feel anymore when I was pushed out of the way again by my fire breathing partner.

"Dammit, Natsu, don't!" I yelled, seeing that he still hadn't figured out how to get fire.

But then, I saw Sagittarius, in the distance, raise up his bow and arrow and launch it at a machine that had miraculously stayed semi intact, and watched as it exploded, creating more than enough flames.

I grinned and fell down onto my rump as Natsu sucked up all the flames and wiped his mouth, "Thanks, Lucy."

I nodded, knowing he wouldn't see it.

"What the hell are you happy about? All it did was put us on equal footing again!" Gajeel yelled, but then was silenced by a fiery kick to the face.

I could almost see the fear passing through the Iron Bastard as he unleashed his spears again, only for Natsu to put his hands out and deflect it.

My jaw dropped open.

"Levi, Jet, Droy, the Old Fart, Lucy…HOW DARE YOU PUT YOUR FILTHY HANDS ON MY NAKAMA WITH YOUR STUPID GRIN!"

"You've got to be shittin' me! The almighty Gajeel falling at the hands of this runt! This worthless piece of trash!" Gajeel yelled incredulously.

Natsu reeled his fist back, a swirling inferno covering it, and I could almost see a giant red dragon roaring in the background as he released his fist, screaming at the top of his lungs, "I'M PAYING YOU BACK! ALONG WITH SOME ADDED INTEREST!"

And then he reeled his fist pack and released it in a powerful, flame filled barrage while yelling, "Crimson Fire-Dragon's Fist!"

But it was so powerful, that Natsu punched Gajeel straight through the wall and out of the guild while muttering, "Now, we're even."

My heart swelled up in that moment.

Natsu won.

That was sort of overshadowed when I realized that the foundation of the guild was crumbling beneath my feet.

I flailed my arms around, trying to get my footing when Sagittarius dismissed himself and Happy flew in and grabbed me by the back of my shit.

Natsu just fell down and lied there on the stone, immobile, "I guess I finally ran out of magic."

I gave a small smile, "Honestly, you really… do go over the top with these things…"

"Aye!" Happy said.

Natsu only closed his eyes and gave his trademark ear-to-ear grin.

And I couldn't help but think, that Natsu was cool—in a cute, relentless way.

I had all of ten seconds to think that, when the guild starts rumbling again and Natsu was sent sliding backwards with a "Woooah!"

"Natsu!" I called out, urging Happy to fly down lower near him so I could hop down.

When I did and gathered him up in my lap and made sure that I had a good grip on him in case the guild moved again, "You okay Natsu?"

He could only give a dragon-toothed smirk, and then he gave a full out childish grin at the sky, "Only the old guy has this kind of power!"

My jaw dropped, "You mean Master Makarov?"

"Yep!" Natsu grinned, then turned serious, "Hey, Luce, go on and meet the others down below, I want to ask Gajeel something."

My mind wanted to scream at him that he was going to speak to our opponent, and then my gut realized why he wanted to.

I nodded. "Ask for me, too, okay? And if he gives you any trouble, signal me over, okay?" I said, giving a smile.

* * *

A week after the whole ordeal with Phantom Lord, and the Magic Council hounding on our asses for answers, I set out for the Heartfilia Mansion, having fished around in my clothes for one of my old dresses, which was hidden in a small space where Natsu would never find it in the house.

I had forgotten what it was like to prance around in a big poufy dress.

I put on the drawers, the chemise and laced up the corset tight, then the six under-petticoats, my cage hoop and finally the lacy over-petticoat and finally, I put my blue silk over coat on top of my dress.

I pulled my hair up into a sleek bun, putting in all sorts of pins to help keep it up, and then I slid my bonnet into place and adjusted my lace choker so it sat comfortably on my neck.

The last step was putting on my boots, putting on my gloves and getting my purse then heading off to the train station.

No doubt, my dad was going to be shocked when he saw me.

* * *

When I arrived, all of the maids came and swarmed around me. They gushed about how pretty I looked, how much they missed me, and I could only nod pleasantly and ask them if my room was still in the same condition as when I left.

When they admitted that yes, it was in tip-top condition just in case I ever returned, I smiled and let them lead me to my room.

I shuffled through everything, giving a wide grin when I saw that they had packed up the rest of my things in a huge Erza-like luggage cart.

But one thing caught my eye.

On the empty bureau was a framed picture of an orange-haired woman and a lemon-head girl, both dirty and grinning ear to ear, with a determined fist displayed.

My eyes watered up.

I already had a picture of my mom…

But I never knew that the maids found the one picture of Stelliana and me that had ever been taken.

Needless to say, after I cried a bit I had to clean up, then put on my game face and head up to my father's study.

As I pushed the doors open, I got my first glimpse of my dad in a long time.

He was still the same, with a bushy blonde mustache and a severe look on his face.

I muttered a small hello and then bowed, "I apologize for leaving home with out a word, father. I deeply regret my actions."

He only sat down and interlaced his hands, "A wise decision. If you had stayed at that guild any longer, I would have been forced to use my money and my influence to destroy the guild utterly. It would appear you have finally grown up, Lucy. I should hope you now understand that selfish acts cause no end of trouble to those around you. You are the daughter of the Heartfilia family. You are different from others; you live in a different world. There is a reason why I have brought you back home. I have arranged for you to be married."

My inner spitfire bristled.

He kept going, "Your husband is to be the heir of the Jureneel family, Duke Sawarue. I'm sure you are aware that he has expressed interest in you."

I nodded stiffly, "That is true."

"A marriage link with the Jureneel family will enable us to secure the necessary support to extend our railroads into the South. This marriage is vital to the future of the Heartfilia family. And you will need to bear a son as soon as possible. The Heartfilia family is in need of an heir. That will be all. Return to your room."

And of course, I wasn't going to be dismissed that easily, seeing my opening, I began my rebuttal.

"Father, I don't want you to get the wrong idea," I began, crossing my arms underneath my breasts and putting my chin up defiantly. "I didn't come here to stay. I came here to tell you why I left and that if you ever threaten my guild again, I will personally make your life a living hell."

I glared at him, "I left because I wanted to. I was sick of you ignoring the huge part of my life, the fact that I am a mage. I was tired of you never realizing how important the magic I was learning was—Father did you ever realize that I was taught by a _dragon_? That because you were unaware of my magic type, two guildhalls were destroyed because they underestimated the destructive force of Dragon Slayer Magic?"

"Father, I never found my place here, and I'm not here to stay, so you can shove all those marriages right back where they came from. I am not going to marry that pervert Duke, and I am not staying. I am going to stay in Fairy Tail, and if you try something stupid like threatening my guild again, just know that you will bring the wrath of the most dangerous guild in the world onto your shoulders!"

And with that, I turned on my hell and stormed downstairs.

By the time I reached outside, the maids had already put out my giant bulk of luggage. I pulled it over near the grave of my mother and knelt.

I traced her name and smiled.

Then, in the distance I heard a familiar sound of stampeding as I put down the flowers.

I turned around only to be tackled down by a blur of pink and blue.

I grinned and waved when they just looked at me incredulously then pointed to my mom's grave to assuage their fears.

* * *

"This town is so huge!" Natsu said on our way home.

"Ah…. no, no, this is just the garden. Our estate goes up to the other side of that mountain," I said, pointing to the mounting, holding the picture of Stelliana I had found close to my chest.

And then, Gray and Natsu saluted me.

"You're excellency!"

"It is an honor to know someone so humble!"

And then Happy flew over to Erza, "Natsu and Gray have lost it! Captain Erza, you have to do something!"

But Erza's only response was: "The sky is blue…"

"CAPTAIN ERZA HAS LOST IT TOO!"

I smiled, this was my family now.


	14. Chapter 14

Natsu was driving me crazy.

He didn't know he was doing it, but he sure as hell was.

Occasionally, I'd be eating, and he'd swipe food right off my plate then eat right next to me.

And the only thing that would stop me was the fact that he looked cute with that mischievous grin on his face.

Plus, I was hopelessly in love with him.

If it had been Gray or Loke though, I would have cheerfully smashed their faces in for stealing what was mine.

And then there were times when he would prance around the guild construction site wearing nothing more than his pants and sandals, his muscles rippling beneath his glistening skin.

Of course, it had gotten to the point where he didn't sweat—cause no, sweating was not for someone as _perfect_ as him—he freaking glistened.

Or when he would make a reckless comment that made my face heat up.

For example, the other day, after Aquarius gave me a thorough hiding for losing the keys, I went to the guild and started talking to Levi and Mirajane, complaining about my sore ass, when of course, Gray came up and offered to cool it down with ice, while Natsu commented loudly what my face would look like if he burned. My. Ass.

In that moment, I whipped around, my Celestial Gauntlet formed wordless and my fist reeled back in the air to smack him into oblivion when I actually saw his face. And it was as if the curve of his jaw, the cheeky arch of his eyebrows and his pointed teeth—the same pointed, dragon teeth that I had!—melted away all of my anger.

And I practically wilted there, closing my eyes and muttering through gritted teeth, "Not nice, Natsu." Then I lowered my arm and the stones fell limply around me, some bumping up against my black boots.

That day, I avoided him like the plague, and simply raised up stone walls wherever Master Makarov told me he needed them.

Natsu was driving me nuts.

And it wasn't that I was in denial.

I freaking new what I felt, I just didn't want him to know.

I was just, on some level, sickened with how unbelievably pathetic I was acting.

I mean, before I met Natsu and I was wandering all of Fiore by myself, I would kick ass and ask questions later. Guys weren't even on my mind for anything other then milking money and free punching bags.

But now, I was looking at Natsu and thinking about him with words like "cute," "adorable," and for Mavis' sake, "glistening"?

I never really considered myself to have ever been all that girly. I mean, I guess if Stelliana had never come into my life, then maybe I would have become a more polite, goody-two-shoes who _liked _all this girl crap and dating and magazines and fame.

Okay, so maybe I really liked the notoriety that came with Fairy Tail and the automatic fame status my name got once I got membership.

But hey, being human is like that.

So, on the day that Erza and I took a day off, she dragged me to an armor shop called Heart Kreuz.

And when I say dragged, I mean she asked me if I had the day off too, and before I even got to nod my head, she was grabbing me by the arm and dragging me around Magnolia.

But hell, I wasn't about to challenge her. I mean, we never got to do our fight, but from just knowing Erza, and protecting the guild together, I liked to think that we were on somewhat equal footing, even though she was two years older than me. And face it; no one really ever wanted to start any kind of fight with the Titania of Fairy Tail, except maybe Natsu.

When I walked in, I was really surprised though.

I expected the walls to be lined with weapons from floor to ceiling, but as it turned out, the front of the shop was a simple clothing shop.

Which made sense, considering that Heart Kreuz, from what little I knew about current fashion, was a popular retail store that many girls in Fiore raved about.

It was only when Erza led me to a back door that I finally got the whole "floor to ceiling weapons" treatment.

Even the ceiling was a giant weapon with netting made of chains on the ceiling with tons of daggers and scythes hanging down just waiting to decapitate someone.

"Erza-sama! Welcome!" called a little, crinkly voice from the back. When I turned on my heel, I was met with a tiny little man with huge round glasses about the size of Master with a top hat that practically reached the ceiling.

"Oh, hello there, Claudius-san," Erza said pleasantly, letting go of the huge monstrosity of a blade she had been caressing moments ago. "Do you have my order ready?"

"Of course!" Claudius said, giving a grandfatherly, toothless smile. Then he spotted me, standing like a frightened deer in the middle of a crap load of pointy objects. "And who is this young lady?"

"Lucy of Fairy Tail, sir," I said, nodding at him.

"Oh my," he said, putting a hand up to his chest. "You can't mean _the_ Lucy? The Stone Maiden of Fairy Tail is in my shop? Erza-sama, you do me a great honor by bringing in all of your famous compatriots."

"It's nothing at all," Erza said, with no type of tact whatsoever, having pushed her red hair behind her ear and smiling. "I just brought her along for company, Claudius-san."

And while Erza was going over the pleasantries, I was giddy on the inside and freaking out over the fact that I finally got myself a _title!_

I mean, Natsu had "Salamander," Erza had "Titania" and Mavis only knows what other titles everyone in the guild had, but mine was _Stone Maiden!_

It sounded badass.

Then again, it wasn't really accurate. I mean, I wasn't just limited to stone, even though I had a preference for it, being the _Celestial_ Dragon Slayer made it so I was something of a jack of all Celestial trades, not just stone.

But still, the fact remained: Stone Maiden just sounded _badass!_

I was marveling the awesomeness of my title while staring at a lethal looking trench knife when Erza walked up to me with her package in her hands and told me that we could leave.

We were walking into the retail part of the store when she started talking to me.

"You're very powerful, Lucy," she said slowly, with a smile. "And I'm proud of you. So is Master. Have you spoken to him about the S-Class Exams yet? Or do you plan on taking a mission to prove your power?"

Outside, some kids were kicking a ball around and running around merrily, kicking up delicious dust like no other.

I could only turn to her, my eyes wide. "Um, wow Erza. That means a lot coming from you"—she flipped her hand here and flashed her teeth disarmingly—"but what do you mean the S-Class Exams?"

"You have the option," she explained, gesturing with her hand. "To either take a mission with another S-Class individual and have your power evaluated like that, or take an exam, to determine whether or not you qualify to both carry the mantel of being one of Fairy Tail's best and to take on more dangerous missions."

I mulled it over in my head, crossing my arms over my midriff, "And you said I need to talk to Master about it?"

She nodded her head and when one of the kids sent the ball astray, she casually kicked it and ended up making it soar high above the rooftops, making the kids cry.

Of course, the Titania didn't really realize this and only kept moving along with me.

I nodded, "Alright, I'll ask Master his opinion on this! Man, that's going to be awesome!"

And in my head it sounded better.

Fairy Tail's Stone Maiden: an S-Class Mage!

* * *

Which is exactly how I found myself in front of Master, sitting in a wooden chair while he sat in his booster seat in his office.

We had gone over the pleasantries quickly, before I cracked down and started my case.

"So, um, Erza told me that I have the option of becoming an S-Class Mage?"

The Master paused, his hand was midway to reaching for a batch of cookies that Mirajane had brought in for us. "Yes, you can. It's curious that Erza mentioned it to you. I was planning on asking you about it myself."

It seemed that the day was full of surprises.

"See," he said, grabbing a chocolate chip cookie and munching on it quickly. "Given your performance with Erza during Phantom Lord's attack, both shielding the guild and assisting Natsu against Gajeel, prove to me that you have the power to become an S-Class Mage."

My eyes brightened up and I sat up in my seat a bit straighter.

"But," Oh why was there always a 'but'? "Being an S-Class mage is not only about the power. You must also show responsibility and the ability to make good decisions in a pressing situation. You must be aware that being such a high class mage also means that you will be taking lower-level mages out on mission, and as the captain of these missions, you will have both full responsibility if the mission fails and will have to carry the immense guilt if any of them get hurt because of one of your orders."

My soul wilted a bit at the guilt trip and I bit my lip.

"It takes significant power of both body, mind and _soul_ to be an S-Class Mage. Are you sure you can handle it, Lucy Heartfilia?"

"Lucy of Fairy Tail, sir," I corrected quickly.

"Huh?" he said, pushed off of his lectern by my correction.

"I'm Lucy of Fairy Tail, sir. Not Lucy Heartfilia. The moment I decided to join Fairy Tail, I cut all ties from my family. I don't think of myself as a Heartfilia anymore...I belong to Fairy Tail now, and hopefully I'll be in Fairy Tail until the day I die."

There was a faint blubbering sound, and when I looked down, the master was crying his eyes out and had whipped out a handkerchief and started wailing loudly like the day that we won against Phantom Lord and the Magic Council had come bearing down on us.

Then he whipped out my Fairy Tail Identification card, grabbed a peacock quill, dabbed it in ink, and wrote in letters that spewed magic: "S-Class Mage."

My jaw dropped: it was that easy? I didn't even need to do a test?

The master honked his nose loudly into the handkerchief then said: "It is clear, from your undeniable loyalty to Fairy Tail, from your ability to cast magic powerful enough to help Erza stop a Magical Convergent Cannon, from your ability to assist your Nakama in even the most dire situations that you deserve to be an S-Class Mage. Erza recommended you to me after the Galuna Island Mission, and though Natsu should not have dragged you into it, her report is clear in your recommendation."

"In addition to that, assisting Erza, Gray and Natsu in defeating Lullaby…Lucy, in just a few months, you have proved your worth, your intelligence, you ability to adapt…You deserve to be an S-Class Mage!"

With that he got up and pulled me outside of his office, and I was grinning like a fool.

He pulled me up in front of the whole guild, and I could hear how silent everyone went, dropping his or her construction tools then Master announced it.

"Everyone! We have a new S-Class Mage! Lucy of Fairy Tail!"

It was only when I heard the roaring cheers that I finally came back to awareness and pumped my fist into the air, cheering!

Of course, it wouldn't be Fairy Tail without the huge celebrations and breaking out of beer barrels. The first person my eyes sought out was Erza, and when I found her, I jumped off the stack of wood Master had been standing on with me, and started thanking her as much as possible, bowing my head and everything.

She could only smile and tell me, "You deserved it, Lucy."

Right as I was going to keep on talking to her though, a pink and blue blur tackled me to the floor. "LUCY!"

I grinned at them, but then my grin melted off when I saw the determined look on Natsu's face.

"Lucy, fight me!"

And I think my heart shattered into a million pieces then.

* * *

Ever since that day that Master promoted me to an S-Class Mage, I had been getting never-ending duel requests from Natsu, and I always told him no.

It came down to the point that one day, while I was at our house, washing the dishes, that he ambushed me and asked again.

Of course, I said 'no,' like always, but right after, he began assaulting me with questions about how I had done it.

And I snapped on him.

"Natsu, calm the hell down. Maybe if you actually worked on training and not harassing the Master to promote you to an S-Class position, then maybe he will one day! I mean, all you do is annoy the crap out of the other mages! Have you ever stopped to think that I am considerably weaker than you? So why the hell would Master promote me and not you? Just think about that, and when you find the answer, then maybe you'll finally get promoted!"

And with that, I stormed out of the house with my knapsack, trudging through all the crinkly dead leaves, as twilight broke dusty and pink.

Of all the people in the world, I had expected Natsu to be _proud _of me.

And everything that I told him was the truth.

I had even asked Master why he chose me and not Natsu, and the answer was plain and simple.

Natsu didn't know when to stop a fight. He would keep going until he was either run into the ground or until he won. And since no one else except another Dragon Slayer could keep up with his stamina, any team he would lead as an S-Class Mage would probably get thoroughly beaten up, especially since Natsu had a flair for the more dangerous missions.

It really sucked though.

I wanted at first to celebrate my being an S-Class Mage by taking Natsu out on an S-Class mission with me, and then I had planned on telling him exactly what he needed to work on so he could be promoted with me, but his continuous outbursts practically yelled at me why Erza, nor the elusive Gildarts and Mystogan, or Laxus had ever recommended him for promotion.

I made a beeline toward Fairy Hills.

I loved Natsu…

But he was so childish!

I did love him…right?

I loved his childish smile.

I loved his power.

I loved his ability to pump up an entire room.

I loved how sweet he could be.

But I hated how bullheaded he could be sometimes.

In no time at all, I had reached Fairy Hills, and had even managed to stumble up to Erza's room.

When she opened the door, her eyes widened, and I wiped the tears away from my face.

"Um, hello, Erza, uh, can I stay here for awhile?"

"Yes, Lucy, of course," she ushered me in. I stumbled a bit and bit my lip, not even noticing that her dorm was easily five times the size of the other rooms I had seen on my way up. "What happened Lucy? Is there someone I need to go annihilate for you?"

I shook my head, "No. I just…I just don't think it's a good idea for me to stay with Natsu for a while. I really hate to impose but can I please just…live here for a bit? I have nowhere else to go, and I really trust you the most right now, Erza."

* * *

I didn't talk to Natsu after that. In fact, I avoided him whenever I could. So much, that I bet he never even saw me getting missions or anything.

I took to summoning Plue more often. The particular part of town that I had been walking back from was a little strip filled with hot springs and restaurants, and delicious smells. I was munching on a stone and talking to Plue about how the client from our latest mission was a total pervert when I spotted Loke looking a bit sickly and wiping sweat off his brow.

I waved at him and called out his name, jogging up to him.

"Hey, Loke!" I said, smiling and kind of glad he didn't run away from me for once. "I wanted to thank you for returning my keys to me after the incident with Phantom Lord!"

He looked at me through the lenses of his sunglasses, running his hand through his orange hair, his rings glinting with the light of the moon.

"It's no problem," he mumbled, looking like he was going to pass out. "Why don't I buy you lunch? I never congratulated you for being promoted."

I nodded, "That sounds good, where to?"

* * *

Where we ended up at was a small barbecue place that you entered by ducking your head under the flaps, and ordered your food while sitting on a stool at the bar. The chef in front of us was a middle-aged guy with a receding hairline and eyebrows so arched that they made him look permanently surprised. I ordered a small plate of roasted vegetables and tofu, while Loke got himself ramen with three slices of pork.

We ate amicably, making small talk. He told me a few funny stories about the girls he had gone on dates with and I laughed every single time.

"You know, you're not such a bad guy, Loke," I said, patting my full stomach.

"Who said I ever was?" he said, smirking. "The ladies love me!"

I giggled, the sobered up, "I've been meaning to ask you for a while, but... What exactly is the deal with you and Stellar Spirit mages? ...If you don't want to tell me, that's okay... But you know, I'm not like other spirit mages, for obvious reasons."

The smirk fell off his face so fast I very near got whiplash. "Yeah... I know that. I'm sorry... really... If I've been bothering you, I apologize. You should just forget about me," he mumbled woefully.

"What's with that? You sound like you're breaking up with a girlfriend or something!" I griped frowning, crossing my arms underneath my breasts.

Then I sighed when he didn't respond.

"Well, whatever. I was just wondering... Thanks again for returning my keys to me. You're really nice, you know? Besides, you can say what you like, but we're still Nakama in the end, you know?" I said, smiling at him pleasantly. Then I got up to leave. "Well, then, I'll just be—"

But then Loke was standing up and had me wrapped up in his arms, his forehead resting on my shoulder while I stared at a point in the wall intensely, my eyes bulging.

"What the—?"

"Lucy..." he mumbled, causing little shivers where his breath fanned across my skin.

"Y—yes?"

"I... don't have long left to live," he said so quietly I might have missed it.

I could only mutter the ever coherent, "Huh?"

"There's only...a little more life left in me…" he said dramatically.

I could only stare transfixed at the spot in the wall.

Then I noticed his little giggling laughter.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" I roared, shoving him in the chest.

He could only start hooting and cackling.

"You fell for it, huh?" he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

All I felt was a familiar sense of betrayal, and the sound of blood pumping in my ears.  
"That was a trick to seduce women. A trick that elicits tears... So? Surprised?" he said, grinning at me.

But I promptly wiped that stupid asshole grin off of his face when I clipped him in the jaw with a punch that sent his head reeling backwards. "I HATE THOSE TYPES OF PRANKS! Come on, Plue, we're leaving!"

And I grabbed the little dog spirit and ran out of there back to Fairy Hills.

* * *

The next day, I found myself staying cooped up in Erza's dorm, having denied her request to go on a mission with her, and summoned my spirit Crux to find me information between Loke and whatever Celestial Wizard had messed him up and Plue to keep me company.

I asked him my questions and when I got my answers, I was stunned.

So stunned, that I dismissed Crux, bundled Plue up in my arms, then started walking out of Fairy Hills.

It was a little while longer that I spotted Gray running up to me, shirtless.

"Lucy! Come help us look for Loke! He quit Fairy Tail!"

"WHAT?" I yelled.


	15. Chapter 15

I took off as fast as I could, my feet taking me far away from the voices of my other guild mates, a small sense of dread burying itself in the mouth of my stomach when I heard Natsu and Happy's voices calling out Loke's name.

Even in a moment of emergency, my stupid heart reacted violently to him. I shook my head to cleanse my system of those depressing thoughts and instead switched to the more current pressing matter that was on my plate.

If I was right, then Loke would be far away from any place they were looking for, far away from civilization. If I was right, then the relationship that Loke had with Karen Lilica wasn't a failed romance as I had been thinking before.

My legs pumped up and down, my sneakers coming up with the soles covered in a thin cover of dirt, and Plue was holding onto dear life with a death grip on my shirt. I darted between the evening crowd of townspeople and vaulted over small obstacles, the noises of disgruntled townspeople surrounded me as I sprinted by them.

I turned quickly, my eyes finding the little dip in the road that led to the city's outskirts and the hidden grave of Karen Lilica, when my eyes landed on a carrot top head.

I had arrived at a little alcove that was surrounded in a circle by waterfalls and shrubbery, beautiful even by my lowly-standards, with a little path in the very center that lead to the intricate grace, with a fall of at least fifty feet on either side of the narrow path.

I skidded to a halt when I reached the edge, knowing that Loke knew I was there.

I approached slowly, admiring the beautiful grave, and the waterfalls that surrounded it.

"Everyone's looking for you, you know," I said softly, watching him tense up as I trudged over to him.

"Lucy…?" he said with a faraway voice, turning to look at me.

"I see you came to Karen's grave. It's beautiful this place. Fitting place for such a great Celestial Spirit Mage like Karen Lilica…your owner," I said, crossing my arms under his uncomfortable stare. It was like looking into the eyes of a dead man, someone who had surrendered to his fate. It was so disheartening, that I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

"You're Leo the Lion, aren't you, Loke?" I asked conclusively stepping closer to look up at him, tilting my head sideways in an effort to imagine the leader of the Zodiac in Loke's place, but in that moment, it was almost impossible. I couldn't imagine such a desolate man as the leader of the Ecliptic Zodiac.

"So, you figured it out... that I'm a Celestial Spirit," he said, if possible, his face paled even more.

"I'm the Celestial Dragon Slayer, Loke, I have loads of contracts so of course I was going to figure it out eventually. And even though I finally found out…I still think I should have figured it out earlier, Loke." And there was that overwhelming guilt that settled into my stomach like a struggling animal.

"Originally, when the owner of the key dies, his contract with the Celestial Spirit is annulled. Until the next owner appears, the Celestial Spirit is forced to return to the Celestial Spirit world. Your contract with Karen should have been annulled when she died, but here you are in the human world…There seems to be some reason why you can't return to the Celestial Spirit world. Humans can't live in the Celestial Spirit world, and similarly, Celestial Spirits can't live in the human world. Your vitality will gradually dissipate until your death."

"It's already been three years," he mumbled, staring intently at the grave again.

My jaw dropped, "Three years? But even a single year is next to impossible!"

" Ahh... I'm already at my limit... I can't even get any power out at all," he said, opening and closing his fist.

"Loke, I can help you! Just tell me why you can't return! I'll force open the gate for you!"

"I don't need help," he snapped quickly.

I froze, "What are you saying? You idiot, do you _want_to die?"

"The reason I can't return is simple," he said.

All I could think was that his reason had better be damn good considering he was going to throw away his life for it.

Well, he wouldn't be throwing it away, if I could help it.

"I breached the terms in the contract between owner and Celestial Spirit...And in so doing... have been banished forever from the Celestial Spirit world," he said dramatically.

Desolate and dying, I still had the urge to throttle him for all the suspense.

"Banished... forever?" I hedged.

"This is my crime, I'll accept even this 'death,'" he concluded, sitting down by the grave of his previous master. "I'm a traitor Celestial Spirit. I killed my owner Karen with these hands…"

My jaw dropped even further if possible.

"Loke…what the hell…how the hell," I stopped stammering and collected my thoughts quickly into one coherent sentence. "You killed Karen Lilica?"

He nodded and then told me his story. He told me how Karen Lilica wasn't really as good a Celestial Mage as everyone thought she was. He told me how she treated her spirits like trash, like tools instead of the living beings they really were, he told me how he had planned to punish her by not letting her go on any jobs until she released all of her spirits. And he told me, that one day, three months after he began his plan, Karen went out on a job, tried summoning a spirit, and died because she didn't have the magic necessary to keep two spirits in the human world.

"Because of me, Karen was unable to call out any other Spirits," He panted, barely able to even lift his arms now. "And in that state, she went out on a job... and lost her life..."

"Wait, hold on Loke!" I said, falling to my knees and grabbing his wrist, but he kept on talking as if I wasn't even there, as if he was apologizing to his former owner.

"...I killed her, or as good as killed her. Ever since that day, I've been unable to return to the Celestial Realm...I guess the Celestial Realm is disobeying its master, too; rejecting one of its own..."

"I'm so glad I managed to meet a wonderful Celestial Mage like yourself, here at the end... Thanks so much, Lucy..." he said, a cold sweat appearing on his skin.

And it felt like it was his goodbye to me.

So I did the rational thing and screamed at him in frustration, grasping his shoulders and shaking him so he could see that he was dead _wrong._

"Wait! I swear I'll save you, Loke! Don't give up!"

"Give my regards to the guys back at Fairy Tail..." he said, his hand flickering transparent, so that the grass beneath it was completely visible through the appendage.

" If you can just get back to the Celestial Realm your life-force will come rushing straight back! I'll get you back there, no matter what!" I yelled at him, forcing magic to flow through my veins, the electric and familiar shock eneveloping my body faster then ever before.

"I'm telling you, you can't do that, Lucy...!" he said weakly, noticing the crackling yellow glow that was covering me.

"But don't you think it's stupid? You didn't really even kill Karen at all! It was just an accident! OPEN! GATE OF THE LION! SEND LOKI BACK TO THE CELESTIAL REALM!" I shouted, hugging Loke tightly.

"OPEN! I SAID OPEN DAMMIT!" I yelled furiously.

"Lucy... That's enough...Please, stop..." he mumbled pathetically.

Which is why I snapped at him for being such an idiot. "This is NOT okay, you dumbass! How could I abandon a Nakama who's disappearing right in front of my eyes? What kind of friend would that make me!"

When the magic flared around me and I felt the faint painful tugging in my chest, I grunted, closing my eyes.

"Lucy! You can't use up all your magic at once like that!" Loke reprimanded, his arms suddenly grasping just as tightly onto me as I was onto him.

"Dammit, Loke, I told you! I'm going to save you, no matter what! I'll open the gate to the Celestial Realm by force if I have to! I'm not letting my Nakama down!" I shouted through the pain.

"It's not going to open! A Spirit who has rebelled against his contract with a human can never return to the Celestial Realm! / Stop, please! You're starting to be absorbed into the fabric of the Celestial Realm yourself! At this rate, you're going to disappear along with me!"

When I didn't answer, he started muttering broken things in my ear, begging me to stop, crying.

"Please, don't make me responsible for any more sins than I already bear...!"

"You haven't sinned at all! And if the laws of the Celestial Realm say you have, then I'll do whatever it takes to change them!

And it was as if that one sentence sent the entire world rocking off of its axis. Around us, the water sloshed angrily, the stones shock, and the sky changed.

And quick as lightning, a towering figure appeared in front of us while Loke rubbed his eyes of tears and muttered, "Don't... don't tell me...! No way...!

"The Celestial Spirit King...!" I whispered, grinning. I was going to save Loke after all, it seemed.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" Loke stuttered, staring at the King in astonishment.

"By the pact we formed long ago with our companions of old, the humans, we Celestial Spirits are forbidden from harming those who bear the Keys. Though thy sin was indirect, Leo, thou standest nevertheless in violation of this pact. Thou art forbidden from returning to the Celestial Realm," he said simply.

So I cracked my knuckles and exercised my vocal skills, "Wait! That's going way to far, right?"  
"W-Won't you just give it up, Lucy?" Loke asked me pathetically.

"Oh, shut up you! I'm not going to let you die!"

"Companion of old... This Law alone can never be changed," the King rumbled in a loud echoing voice.

"He has lived in pain for three whole years! For the sake of his Nakama! He did nothing more or less than what he had to, for Aries! You have to be nuts not to understand that he did this for the wellbeing of another!"

"Truly, my heart is moved by thy pleas, companion of old..."

"Oh, cut it out with all this 'companion of old' shit, old man! I'm talking about one of my friends! So open you're damn ears and listen you stupid old fart!" I screeched, standing up and putting and hands on my hips.

"Did you just call the King an…old fart?" Loke asked blankly.

And I ignored him cause he really wasn't helping out with the matter at hand.

"This was just a terrible accident! What did Loki ever do that was so wrong? He's innocent, and I won't stand for anything less! So let him return to the Celestial Realm!"

"Give it up, Lucy! I'm not asking for anybody to forgive me! I want to atone for my sins! I want to disappear, right here, right now!"

"You dumbass, I'm telling you I won't stand for that! I don't care if I have to rewrite the entire freaking rulebook, you didn't kill anyone, it was an accident!"

The King harrumphed and I wheeled around on my heel to point my finger at him, "Don't you harrumph me, we're not finished talking here! How is what he did a sin? How can it ever be a sin to care for your own Nakama?"

I said, and with a burst of my magic, I felt all my spirits appearing behind me, and the telltale magic glow of my Comet Might Armor engulfing my body as I waved my fist at the Celestial Spirit King.

"LUCY!" Loke called out in a voice laced with worry.

"See... all of my _friends_feel the same way. If you're a Celestial Spirit too, you should be able to understand how Loki and Aries felt!"

But then, I felt the toll of summoning all my spirits at once and fell down onto one knee, grunting. Loke came rushing to my side though, putting his hand on my arm to make sure I was fine. "Stop doing such crazy things!"

"No, dammit!" I yelled, standing back up, my armor blazing. "I could care less if I have to beat down this old fart till he sees reason! If I die here, then its fine cause I'd be dying for my Nakama! Don't you understand Loke? You belong with us, you belong with Fairy Tail! You deserve to live!"

And then all my spirits disappeared in poofs of smoke and I fell back down onto my knees.

"No, Lucy, even if it's just for a moment, you could kill yourself summoning all of them!"

"To be addressed in such a manner by our companions of old..." the King rumbled.

I simply stared fiercely at him.

"...Perhaps it is truly the Law which is wrong. Leo, ye who sinned for the sake of your kinsman, Aries... Companion of old, ye who seek deliverance for Leo... In honor of this most wondrous bond... I shall allow an exception to be made of this case. Leo... I hereby authorize your return to the Celestial Realm," he concluded.

And all at once, I let my armor face away and gave a small smile to the king, "Huh, you're not such a bad guy after all... Old Beardy."

"Offer thy thanks not to me, but to the guidance of the stars," he said.

"Wait... please..." Loke said, raising his arm out.

I was about to smack him if he wanted to undo everything that I worked hard to do just for him.

"If, despite this pardon, thou still desirest to atone for thy sins... Then I order thee to lend thy power to this companion of thine, and live on in her service. For I deem that she has earned such service. And thou shouldst lay down thy life to protect hers," he said and then everything around us returned to how it was before I forced the gate open.

I smiled at Loke as the gate to the Celestial Realm opened, "Well, you heard him!"

"...This doesn't mean that my sin can just disappear...But you have given me the courage to walk onward. Thank you. I guess I'll be seeing you around... I look forward to working with you," he said as he disappeared, a key appearing in my hand.

"...Yeah... me too," I mumbled.

* * *

The days following that were…slow.

Eventually, I went into the guild and summoned Loke so he could talk to everyone and explain what happened, but while he did that, I lurked near the back of the guild, my arms crossed as I saw everyone going nuts over the fact that Loke was a spirit.

And the moment that the doors burst open and Natsu came in, I was walking up the stairs of the rebuilt guild to the second floor, where I could look for a good mission to go on.

There was a moment where my heart staggered, as Natsu started yelling in his usual excited manner, but then my ears perked up when I heard him ask for me.

I closed my eyes when someone mentioned that I had gone upstairs to look at the request board, taking a deep breath.

When I heard the telltale sounds of Natsu making to launch himself up stairs I whirled around and summoned my shield, waiting as it glowed like stars against Natsu's face.

"You're not allowed up here," I said, watching as he slid down my magical shield and fell to the ground in a heap.

"Lucy, that's not fair! You're hiding where we can't get to you!" Happy yelled, tending to his fallen pink haired "father."

I leaned against the balcony and held my chin in my hand, not dignifying that comment with a response.

On the first floor, the guild had gone silent, watching my interaction with Natsu. Loke stared between us, his brows furrowed.

Before things got ugly, I jumped off the balcony and landed on my haunches on the first floor, my head full of horrible thoughts as I walked out of the guild and set out for a Natsu-free zone.

He was horrible.

He was scum.

But why did my heart clench so horribly when I treated him badly?

It was maybe two hours, before Erza found me by myself in the city Park, with her cart of luggage.

"Where ya going, Erza?" I asked amicably, playing with the hem of my shirt.

"Loke left us some tickets for a resort," she said. "Hop on, we're meeting the others at the exit of the park."

"Others?" I asked, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

And as we reached the exit of the park, I recognized the pink head of hair and the blue cat.

I was about to do a U-turn and walk the other way when Erza gave me a stern look and said, "Resolve this."

Frowning, I crossed my arms and kept walking with her.

How the hell was I supposed to fix my problems with Natsu when he was oblivious and an idiot?


	16. Chapter 16

I walked along behind Erza's cart, Natsu next to me, while Erza and Gray were up ahead, having a mundane conversation about who-knows-what.

I stared at my feet as we trudged, unsure of how Natsu was going to go about this, all I knew was that I sure as hell wasn't going to start this.

We were walking along in dead silence when the squeak of the wheels on Erza's cart stopped and Natsu's hand came up to my shoulder stopping in my tracks.

I whipped my head up quickly, my brown eyes landing on his impossibly dark, black eyes, staring accusingly at him.

"You almost tripped, you weirdo," Natsu said, his lip quirking up in a half-smile and his eyes just barely twinkling in mirth.

"Right," was the only thing I managed to say before Erza came around her huge luggage heap and addressed us with a gauntleted hand on her hip, resting on the blue fabric of her skirt.

She stepped next to us, Gray by her side, "We're going to go get some food and pick some stuff up. Why don't you guys take a few hours off and have some fun? Also, I promised Master to meet someone in town for him tonight, so we won't be arriving at the resort until tomorrow. We'll be lodging at the Myrtle tonight, then setting out for the resort early in the morning. We'll decide room arrangements at the hotel tonight, have fun!"

And with that, Erza disappeared somewhere into the depths of the city, dragging along Gray like some sort of icy ragdoll.

I could only frown and glance at Natsu out of the corner of my eye.

When I saw neither he nor Happy were moving, I started stomping off to the nearest café, ordered a pastry for myself, a small fish for Happy and requested that the chicken wing platter be set on fire as soon as it was set on our table.

Once I finished ordering, I spun around on my heel and walked over to the table that Happy and Natsu had found. He was sitting down, speaking in low tones to Happy, nodding his head every once in a while and playing with a flame on the tip of his finger, making it jump around the tips of his digits before hopping onto his other hand and repeating the process.

It made a smile come to my lips, the way that he did cute things subconsciously like that…

I shook my head.

No! I was mad at him! And I was determined to stay mad at him until I got the apology I deserved!

Or, at least, stay mad at him until I broke down and just forgave him.

At the rate we were going, it was more likely to be the second option.

I sat down primly at the table, sliding my hands under my thighs to make sure my skirt didn't ride up. It was weird, Stelliana used to laugh at me so much considering that I wore the same type of shirts as her—which left all of our stomach out—but was worried enough about how I looked that I smoothed out my skirt so I wouldn't crinkle it or flash anyone my panties.

She used to laugh and say, "I guess I still haven't beaten the 'Princess' out of you yet, my son!"

And I had stared at her, irritated and said, "Would you quit it with that? People are going to think you're an abusive parent, dad!"

And to this day, I was convinced that the people in the district we had been in were convinced that we were a father-son pair of abusive cross-dressers.

"Lucy, you're being weird," Happy said simply, having jumped down onto the table to prod my cheek with his furry blue paw.

"Huh?" I gracefully asked, my mouth dropping open in question.

"Well," Natsu began. "You kinda looked like this!"

And then my eyes quickly shifted up to look at his grinning face, noting carefully how he dropped his jaw and pushed some spit out with his tongue, and gave a weirdly serene looking smile, the 'drool' dripping down his chin.

I growled before leaning over the table and popping him on the head with my fist, accidentally squishing Happy into my breasts in the process. "I _so_ did not look like that!"

"Yuh-huh!" he and happy chorused, grinning like fools.

"Well—Well—At least I'm not a pink-haired slack jawed idiot!" I snapped playfully, pouring myself some water once the waitress came and deposited the cold pitcher at our table.

I smirked over my blue cup, sipping daintily through the straw.

"At least I'm not a big-breasted holder type!" Natsu responded, grinning at me.

"What?!" I spat, pointing at Natsu in an accusatory manner. "I'm not a holder type! I'm a Dragon Slayer like you!"

"Pssh," Natsu said, crossing his arms. "Some Dragon Slayer! You summon spirits to help you out in battle!"

I growled, "I only do that when we can't brawl our way through a fight! You need to think sometimes before you leap into battle and get yourself killed, Natsu."

"Huh?" Natsu said, all the playful air suddenly disappearing from him like a deflated balloon. "Is that it?"

I paused, hunching down in my seat and closing my eyes with a sigh.

"Is it what?" I asked tiredly, rubbing my eyes as Happy crawled into my lap.

"Is that why Master won't promote me to be an S-Class Mage?" he asked, sounding the most somber I had ever heard the hyperactive fire mage be.

I nodded. "You're too brash. Sometimes, you don't think things through. You and I, well, we have stamina to keep up with dragons. But do you really think that other people are going to keep up with us?"

He opened his mouth as if to protest, but then I quickly interrupted, "Gray and Erza don't count. They usually are smart enough not to interfere when you start fighting."

He deflated even more, if it was possible.

"Look, Natsu," I muttered, staring at his pink spikes. "I never liked the fact that I got promoted and you didn't. And I was being completely honest when I told you that I don't think I'm stronger than you, because, face it, I'm not. I can hold my own, but when it comes to brute strength, it's all you. The reasons why I was promoted and not you were because I can think things through. When push comes to shove, I can send my team away to fight by myself, or I can defend all of my teammates. You can't be overcome with emotion when others depend on you, Natsu."

There's was a stone cold silence between us for a while, during which we waited for our food.

When our waitress finally arrived, she came with a match, and lit all of Natsu's food on fire.

I nodded my thanks and slipped her a hefty tip.

It was all worth it to see the way that Natsu's eyes went from being downcast to lighten up in pure joy as he started digging in to his flaming chicken wings, almost the same look that Happy had on his face as he practically hugged his little fish before munching on it.

I smiled and only cut my pastry into bite size pieces and started eating in a more civilized manner to the sound of Natsu's slurping and burping and crunching of the food.

When he finished, he stared pointedly at my pastry. I had about three bites left. It was a simple custard pastry in a little white porcelain dish, with the yellow custard nestled atop a crunchy cookie crust and powered sugar dusted over the top and a little zigzag of caramel syrup drizzled over the top.

Well, at least it was, until I ate most of it.

What was left were about three spoonful's worth of the bottom, which was always the best part.

I glanced up once at both of them, then conceded with a sigh, grabbed my share of the last few bites and then pushed it across the table to Happy and Natsu.

The look that engulfed their faces just reminded me why I probably would never be able to hold a grudge against either of them.

They were so adorable and childlike as they swallowed down the piece of tart in one gulp, giving a refreshed and satisfied sigh straight afterwards.

I could only giggle.

* * *

That day, we found ourselves just wandering around.

At one point, while I was listening to them babble about how Natsu had nearly destroyed the kitchen, we ran into some trouble.

We had been walking along the sidewalk for so long, that I suppose we might have lost track how far we had gone from the main city streets. We had arrived to the very edges of the city, where warehouses and alleyways were aplenty, and apparently, where the rascals of the city claimed their territory.

I didn't even notice how Natsu and Happy's talking died down slowly as they approached me.

I was gaping.

There were a group of three guys, dressed in clothes with offensive words and designs, huddled around a mother cat, stabbing her with their knives, yanking on her tail, plucking out her fur little by little, while her kittens were off in a corner.

There was a moment when I felt some amount of fear creeping up from my toes up to my belly but for the most part, the anger—hot, boiling, tongues of magical flame washing down inside of me—pushed it down. And before I knew it the stones around us were groaning as some unseen force yanked them up and collected into my giant stone gauntlets.

"What the hell do you asshole think you're doing?" I asked coldly, my eyes narrowed into a spark-spitting glare.

They turned around, and as they did, I saw the light fade from the eyes of the mother cat, her kittens mewling mournfully deeper in the alley.

"Eh, look at this," said one of the uglier thugs, with a braided goatee. "This sexy bitch wants to go for a _ride,_ guys."

I snarled, "In your dreams, asshole."

"Aw, don't be like that, sweet cheeks," he said, making a lewd pinching motion to indicate my ass. "Come on over here and take a ride with me."

I wanted to roar.

But in the next few seconds, I saw Natsu smash the crap out of the thugs, having launched up from behind me to smash their faces in, and when I turned around, I noticed that I had missed the thug that was walking up behind us.

And then I glanced back at Natsu, "If you ever talk to her like that again, you can kiss your balls goodbye, you dickless moron!"

With that, the guys scrambled away like dogs with their tails caught between their legs, the alleyway rank with the smell of burn hair and blood.

"Thanks, Natsu," I said, walking up to him while Happy hovered up by my shoulders. "Those guys were pieces of shit."

Natsu nodded, his eyes still narrowed into a glare, still trying to calm back down from thoroughly beating down the dumbasses.

Before I knew it, his signature grin was in place again, "I figured I should've done it, considering that whenever a Fairy Tail S-Class Mage does it, half the town disappears!"

I rolled my eyes, "I think you're confusing me with you, Natsu, but thanks. It's cute that you defended my honor and everything like that."

"Cute?" Happy crowed. "Lucy liiiiiiikes you!"

My face flushed, "SHUT UP, CAT!"

But then, I remembered the other cat that was lying in the alleyway, the mother cat that the gang had tortured to death. The pitiful mewling in the back of the alleyway just reminded me that the momma cat left her litter to fend in life alone.

I gave Natsu a significant look, grabbing Happy out of the air and handing him to Natsu. "You go get the kittens, I'll bury the mother cat."

Natsu and Happy both nodded at me as they left. I waited until they were far away before I reached out and petted the mother cat's gray, tabby fur—what was left of it between her ears—the same way I would to Happy, while I channeled my magic into the ground and a small tomb-sized clump of dirt came flying up.

At the same time, I lifted my opposite hand and lifted it over the mother cat, making the dirt beneath her lift up and then shifted her underneath the clump of dirt I had just lifted up.

When she was down their and fixed up well enough, I looked up at the dirt I had hovering in the air, forced my magic to comb through it in little streams to separate it and soften it up, then gently covered the mother cat up.

It was at this point, that I realized that I was still wearing my gauntlets.

Natsu and Happy were back at this point, with three little kittens. I simply disassembled my gauntlets and reassembled them as a tightly packed tombstone.

It was after a small moment of silence that we left and I asked Natsu what we were going to do with the baby kittens.

He then looked at me like I had grown a second head and said, "You weirdo, we're going to go find another mother cat to adopt them, duh."

"Duh, Lucy!" Happy echoed.

I smiled, my chest growing warm at that.

So, we hunted around the entire city, looking up and down for a mother cat to adopt the kittens, and when we did, it was near nightfall.

I don't think I will ever remember a cuter instance, then when such a dangerously powerful person like Natsu, would hunt down a mother cat for hours on end to adopt an orphaned litter.

Honestly, his eyes were so determined, and then softened so much when we finally deposited the kittens with a new mother on the opposite side of town, one of the orange tabbies licking Natsu's face before it let Natsu put it down with its new brothers and sisters.

All of us laughed.

If I hadn't of fallen in love with Natsu before that, then I would have at that moment. He was so tender and carrying, and the way he laughed and petted the kittens was just so adorable and tender that I couldn't help but want to fall in love with him.

* * *

That night, we found ourselves sleeping in the same room for what seemed like the first time in months. It wouldn't have been as awkward as I first thought it was going to be, if only the room had more than one bed.

It was after I had changed into my night shorts and tank top and Natsu paraded around in his white t-shirt and shorts—and of course, Happy with his fish nightcap—that we finally realized the problem with having only one bed.

Of course, Natsu had a supremely simple solution to the problem.

"You sleep on that side, with your head by the footboard, and I'll sleep on the other side with my head towards the headboard!" he said triumphantly, as if he had just solved some type of horrible world problem.

I looked at him, trying not to blush at the thought of us in the same bed.

"Fine, let's try it," I said, shrugging. "How bad can it be?"

Apparently, it could be terribly bad.

"NATSU! DO YOU EVER CLEAN YOUR FEET?! THEY REEK!" I yelled, pinching my nose for all I was worth.

"Me?" he responded. "At least I'm not the one with a funky looking toe!"

"Can you both go to sleep? Some cats need beauty sleep!" Happy growled from underneath the pillow he was smothering himself with. We both ignored him.

I rolled out of the bed at that point and then laid down again, this time with my head pointing the same was as Natsu's and facing away from him.

"I'll just sleep like this," I said as red-hot heat crept up my cheeks. I was so freaking happy the lights were off. "It's not like you're going to do anything inappropriate to me, right?"

"R-right," Natsu said. "Goodnight Happy. Goodnight, Luce."

"Goodnight Happy. Goodnight, Natsu," I said, closing my eyes and pulling the soft covers up to my chin.


	17. Chapter 17

It was sometime in the course of the night that I felt Happy drift—or rather, roll—onto the pillow space above my head and right before the wooden headboard of the bed.

I don't know why, but one that occurred, I calmed my thoughts enough to the point where I wasn't as hyperaware, but was lulled into a more relaxed state next to the human furnace.

And he _was_ a human furnace, even in his sleep.

I was comfortably warm; tendrils of heat were seeping through the covers and keeping away the stiff, silent chill of the night.

It was kind of weird, how his element counteracted my element in some cases. Being a Celestial Dragon Slayer meant that my skin would be colder than most, so much so that when I touched people on occasion, I would note how the tiny hairs on their arms would lift up or how goose bumps would blossom across the expanse of their skin.

And I think because my skin was so cold, even if by a few degrees, I responded well to Natsu's warm body heat.

My eyes kept blinking shut when they wrenched open and my heart stopped when I remembered that it was _my_ Natsu that I was in bed with.

In bed.

With Natsu.

My cheeks flushed with warmth and I bit my lip as I tuned my ears in to the person I had my back to, my heart launching into a mini heart attack when I confirmed his erratic, quick breaths.

I almost bit through my lip when I realized it.

"Natsu?"

The breathing paused.

"You're awake," I stated plainly, revealing my observation to the fire mage.

There was a brief _shish-shish_ as Natsu rustled the fabric of the covers a bit, shifting around in place, before his low "Yeah" practically shattered the silence of the night.

"Are you having trouble sleeping?" I asked, my eyes wide open and staring directly across at the dark silhouette of the lamp on the nightstand by my side of the bed. It was completely swamped in shadows, any detail in the wood lost because of the brightness of the full moon shining through the sliding glass doors of the balcony window. It was odd, how Erza always picked hotels with both a door and some sort of alternate escape rout, as if she was ready for someone to kidnap her at all times.

"No, just thinking," he said. There was a momentary pause before he continued with: "Why? Is it keeping you up, Luce?"

"You and thinking do not mix, Natsu," I said, the corner of my mouth quirking up.

"Hey!" came his quiet protest. I could practically hear his mouth pulling into a childish pout.

It was a good thing I liked pink-haired childish idiots, or else Natsu would've been pummeled to a pulp. I never really noticed how much I hated when grown men pouted until I saw some of the other guild members try it. Then I realized that it really only suited Natsu who acted as childish as he looked sometimes.

"You really are an idiot; if I'm not bothered when we sleep close in the hammocks back home, then why would it keep me up now?"

There was some more rustling, and this time I turned in place to look at him, realizing a bit too late that he had done the same.

"That's true, Luce, but then, what _is_ keeping you up?" he asked, one eyebrow quirking up.

I frowned, "Same thing I guess. My mind just won't stop working."

The edges of his lips turned up, "You're a copy cat, Luce."

"Am not," I complained, pillowing my arm under my head like he was.

This time, both eyebrows went up and he flashed me his trademark toothy grin, "Are too."

"Shut up," I said and bopped his arm lightly.

He could only laugh at me.

When his laughter died out, we were left once again in the silent night, just staring at each other. Surprisingly, it wasn't as awkward as one would think it would be, but more comfortable.

"I guess Happy doesn't have a problem falling asleep," Natsu said suddenly, looking up and poking Happy in the side. I giggled when the blue cat only curled up into an even tighter ball.

"I really don't doubt it," I said, grinning.

That's how most of the night played out. We kept talking, about random things mostly, and it was comfortable. We were so comfortable that we ended up falling asleep sometime during the course of the night, tired from all the laughing and rough housing.

* * *

I woke up to a warm, firm pillow: far firmer than I was used to, but surprisingly comfortable, and the unmistakable scent of ash, woods, and something strangely cinnamon in smell.

I couldn't help but sigh contentedly and rub my face into it, even smiling when something touched my face and moved the annoying lock of hair that flicked over my cheek. It felt really soothing, especially when it stayed there, caressing my cheek softly.

Then my mind caught up to my instincts and I realized that no pillow, however nice it was, would ever move your hair from your face or _breathe._

Instead of flailing around and demanding an explanation as to _why_ Natsu was manhandling me, I stayed as limp as possible and kept up my breathing.

I—

I could pretend for a little while more, that the one who had feelings wasn't just me. I could pretend that he wasn't doing this because he thought of me as a sister or because I was a teammate, but because he genuinely loved me, because he couldn't help but touch me when I was lying helplessly next to him.

Though I probably looked like crap, hair all messed up, face red from being smushed against—against his arm, which he had laid in the middle of the night so I could put my head on it.

But when I felt an arm sling around my waist to pull me closer, my head tucked under his chin—

"Happy, shut up!" he hissed quietly, his grip tightening on my waist. I could imagine him frowning. "She's still sleeping."

"You liiiike her!" Happy whispered, probably doing a little dance in the middle of the air.

There was silence, and I almost expected Natsu to say no.

"I—I know, Happy, but shut up before you wake her," he said, sounding a bit panicked.

My heart froze.

"Mmm," I hummed, rolling my Shoulders. And as soon as I did that, the arm around my waist disappeared and a loud voice said, very near my ear, "Geez, Luce, you finally woke up! I've been trapped here for a while!"

I rolled away, opening my eyes when I had my back to him, trying to hide the look on my face. "You idiot, you should've woken me up, then!"

I didn't hear much of what he said afterwards, I only ran into the bathroom with my toiletry bag to get ready for the mission.

* * *

By the time we had reached the resort, I was quietly walking behind Natsu, having summoned Plue again and holding him in my arms.

When we reached the beach and started having fun in the sun, a bit of my confusion disappeared, but that really didn't stop me from staring at Natsu unintentionally every once in while, trying to see what I didn't see in the past months.

He…liked me?

On the way to the beach, I had been trying to convince myself that I had imagined it all, but then the fact of the matter was, if I really paid attention, I could see Natsu do things that were so out-of-character for him and would fall perfectly into the "in like" behavior.

It was completely frustrating, to have to wonder about all the what-ifs. I had half a mind to consult Erza about it, or maybe next time I saw Levy, but then my instincts kicked in and I would seal it all up.

They would tease me endlessly for wanting to be with Natsu, I just knew it, they didn't see him the same way I did, they didn't live with him, know all his mannerisms in and out the way I did, no matter how many years they had spent growing along side him.

I stayed away from the water, for the most part, smiling softly when Gray and Natsu got into some ridiculous contest about who could capture the most crabs underwater in one breath.

"Why don't you go in?" Erza asked pleasantly, rubbing sun tan lotion on her belly and what was visible of her breasts. She held out the bottle to me in askance.

I smiled a thanks then began stammering, "Oh, um, I don't know, um…" My eyes flickered over to the pink haired idiot.

Erza's eyes followed my train of sight, and my own widened when I realized what she was going to do, then my cheeks flushed beet red as she called Natsu over, Happy landing on his head.

"What's up, Erza?" he asked easily, grinning and shielding his eyes with one hand.

I tipped my hat down lower to cover my face, pulling my sarong tighter across my body, suddenly self-conscious in front of Natsu in light of his unintended confession.

"Help Lucy put sun tan lotion on her back, won't you?" she commanded, rather than asked, smirking.

"_You. Will. Die," _I mouthed silently, dragging my thumb against my throat and glaring at her.

Her smirk only got wider. "_Keep talking. You'll thank me later,"_ she mouthed back.

I stuck my tongue out at her. "_Bitch."_

"Um, Luce," Natsu called awkwardly, already kneeling behind me, "You need to take the wrap thing off, and maybe your hat."

"I don't wanna see Lucy naked!" Happy said and flew away.

I blushed harder, untying my halter-sarong from my neck and letting it drop, exposing my blue bikini top, then took off my hat. I scrambled in my bag for my sunglasses to at least cover my too-expressive eyes. If only I was strong enough to think that his hands, as they lathered lotion on my back, were doing absolutely nothing to me. If only I had enough control and discipline to not be plagued by the words I had overheard in the morning.

My spin at first was as stiff as steel as I sat there, but when Natsu's warm hands touched me, my body started to unfreeze. His hands were heavenly and warmed up the cold lotion, and the way he pressed into my back just made all the tension in my body just melt away. A little bit away, Erza had gotten up and started in the water, softly laughing at me.

I closed my eyes and a small pebble hit her in the head and I grinned right back at her, expecting nothing less when she caught it.

"O-Okay, Luce, all done, you think your lazy ass can do the rest?" Natsu asked, trying to be his usual insulting and childish self.

But I caught the stuttering.

Then what slipped out of my mouth astounded me, "I already had lotion on, and I just wanted a massage, Natsu, so thanks!"

And then I ran away, a grin on my face so huge it could compete with the Cheshire cat grin painted across my face and Natsu spluttering behind me.

* * *

When we finally got out of the water, we got back to the resort and changed; I was prancing around Natsu, my mind having come to a conclusion.

Natsu was an idiot.

And nothing was going to come of both of us being stupid and not recognizing the other, so I just had to gather my courage and confess myself to him. And then he would confess and then we would get together and then together get powerful enough to be the most powerful Dragon Slayer couple in the world.

A small blush crossed my face as I thought of it.

Even now, I was putting on a dress that was revealing and would at least give Natsu some semblance of what I had in mind.

It was a black dress that was low cut all the way to my stomach and kept my feminine assets in place with some spelled, built in undergarments and led to the skirt, which had a cut up one leg to let me run and some white colored pantaloons-styled pants that had black tied right above my knee. Not to mention, all the fabric had a gold trim. My dragon scale belt was around my neck wrapped like a scarf, my keys hanging down like a silver and gold necklace.

And I looked like a female, _very_ blonde version of Natsu.

And it was embarrassing and obvious.

But it was obvious that for Natsu to get a clue, he needed supremely obvious clues.

And if he still didn't get it, then I was planning on planting a big old smoocharoo right on his lips.

And so after I got ready I went to fetch Erza since the boys went down to the casino already and would probably be wreaking havoc all over the place.

Then I started thinking, what if he just made fun of me? What if he really didn't get it? What if he _didn't want to get it?_ What if he had a very specific reason for not telling me, like not wanting to mess our team dynamic up, or not wanting to get all awkward in case things really didn't work out?

When she opened the door I flashed her a calm and easy smile, trying not to betray the suddenly nervousness that had embedded itself in my stomach in the time it took me to reach her room.

"Apparently there's a casino downstairs, you wanna go check it out?" I asked her easily, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear. Erza had changed from her bathing suit back into her trademark Heart Kreuz armor.

She gave me a once over, smirking yet again, then shook her head, "I'm not really big on gambling, mind..."

Oh there was no way in hell she was going to desert me, Erza was the closest thing I had to a best friend and she was so not going to desert me in my time of need.

"Natsu and Gray are down there already!"

"Oh, dear..." she muttered, probably imagining all the havoc that the boys were enveloping themselves in. With a flash of bright light, she had re-quipped into a strappy, elegant dress and her hair and make up were all done up. She flashed me a, for once, shy grin. "This alright, you think?"

"You didn't have to get all dressed up," I insisted and then smiled. "But it will be nice knowing I'm not the only once all done up."

"Hahah... I might as well go all out; it'd be rude otherwise. Especially next to Mrs. Natsu Dragneel here, tell me, are you getting ready to marry him?" she asked, her grin turned evil again.

I blushed to the roots of my hair. "Erza! I-I'm just trying to prove something to him tonight, that's all! Don't get ahead of yourself now!"

She merely smirked at me, her red hair only making her look more mischievous, "Don't kid yourself, Lucy, now let's go."

* * *

When we finally reached the casino, a place that was laden with the heavy scent of tobacco and flashing lights and alcohol, I learned something very valuable while I was scouting for Natsu.

Erza was an invincible monster when it came to gambling.

"Erza, you're amazing at gambling!" I said, wrapping my arms around her Shoulders as she piled up the poker chips in front of her.

She smiled easily and could only chuckle as the crowd behind us grumbled about all the money they had lost to her. "Haha... It looks like this is my lucky day."

My ears then perked up as a very tan guy with blonde hair showed up in the typical Dealer get-up and sat down smoothly, "Dealer change time."

My eyebrows furrowed when the current dealer went to protest, "Ahh—wait a moment—"

"Frankly, I feel like I could beat anybody in the world right now!" Erza said arrogantly, resting her cheek in her gloved hand.

I had the urge to cheer her on but quelled it, staring at the guy in front of us. Erza was too distracted by her winning streak; it seemed, to really take note of what was happening.

"In that case, how about we have ourselves a special sort of game? It's not coins I'd like to bet with," the blonde haired dealer said as he shuffled the cards expertly.

And that sounded enough like a threat that I gathered my magic up around me.

Quickly, he set out cards in front of us that spelled out "DEATH." "How about ...putting your life on the line ...Erza-nee-san?" he said, quirking up an eyebrow.

Erza could only sit there astonished, while I glanced back and forth between the two trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Erza could only mutter, her eyes half mast and shining in sadness, "Shou…"

"Long time no see... Nee-san," the so-called Shou said.

I was still hopelessly lost and looking between them both like they were idiots.

"So…you were okay?" Erza asked, her fists so tightly closed that her knuckles shone white beneath her skin.

"'Okay'?" Shou asked in a patronizing tone that had my teeth on edge, leaning forward to look directly into Erza's eyes.

"Ah, no, I just meant to say…" she trailed off, a shell of the Erza that I knew.

Then the lights went out and there was sudden pandemonium. I whirled around on my heel and looked around widely when my keen ears heard the tell tale shout of Happy yelling for Natsu and then a gunshot.

My heart froze in place.

No…

No!

Not Natsu!

"Erza, I think Natsu just got shot," I said, still frozen in the dark, a jittery feeling filling me from head to toe.

"What?!" she yelled. "Then let's go!"

But I remained frozen.

What if Natsu was honestly gone?

And then, when the lights turned on, Erza was captured.

Fro some reason, despite having activated my armor the moment Erza disappeared from my side, I was tied up and left face to face in the poker hall facing a ton of cards with people trapped in them.

I scowled, three seconds away from letting out a Dragon Roar out of pure frustration. What the hell type of an S-Class mage would I be if I couldn't escape from mere bindings?

I disassembled a part of my armor, and reconstructed it as a sharp as possible, then began to saw through the ropes that were constricting across my chest.

The pain was suffocating me as I tried to saw through the ropes, listening to Erza have a dandy little conversation with her "friends." I scowled more as she ogled over the fact that they had magic. Somehow, a hostage situation didn't sound like "socializing" time to me.

"What do you think you're doing?! Lucy is my Nakama! Let her go!" Erza yelled, finally realizing where I was. I tried to convey to her with my eyes that I was working on it, but it didn't really work.

"Myaa? Nakama?" the cat girl named Millania asked.

"Weren't we your Nakama too...Nee-san?" Shou added.

I froze, a bucket of ice slithering down my back again, "Nakama?"

"Well... Yes..." Erza reluctantly agreed.

"At least, you were our Nakama right up until you _betrayed_ us, that is," Shou sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

Erza staid silent, and if she wasn't tied up, I had the feeling that she would've been staring at her shoes like some shy schoolgirl.

This was so not the Erza that I knew. The Erza that I knew would've busted out of here already and would've been reprimanding me for not being faster.

The a huge, _square_ guy walked, with pointy angles all over his face and sunglasses that made me want to throw up. I had the urge to ask him to shove them up his ass. "Don't tease Erza like that, now, Shou."

Erza looked up in surprise again.

"A real dandy guy doesn't let his emotions run away with him," he told him, the looked down at Erza with what I assumed was a lecherous look. "My, haven't you become quite the looker."

I frowned, what the hell?

"Th—that voice... Wally?"

Wally smirked, "Wouldn't've been surprised if you hadn't recognized me, after all, I've "rounded" out since they used to call me 'Mad Dog Wally'."

"Even you... use magic...?" Erza asked helplessly. I started funneling magic to my lungs when I felt my bindings snap.

"Why so surprised?" asked yet another person, this time he was exceedingly muscled. "Anyone can use magic if they learn the knack for it. Ain't that right, Erza?"

"Simon?!" Erza exclaimed, her dark eyes wide.

"Ungh! Erza... who the hell _are_ all of these people?! And what's with all this shit about 'nee-san'?!" I yelled, finally reaching my wits end.

"He's not my real brother... These are my old Nakama," she confessed, sparing me brief look.

"Nakama... but Erza, you've been in Fairy Tail since you were a pipsqueak, haven't you?!"

Erza nodded, "They're from... before then." She then turned to the miniature crowd that had gathered around us. "What are you guys doing here...? Please, let Lucy go..."

"We're here to take you back," Wally said.

"Myaa!" Millania nodded.

"Let's go home, Nee-san," Shou said.

"And if you _don't_ listen to us..." Wally said, and then I realized that the bindings were tightening, but since I had already broken out of them I had to react. I coiled in around myself and screamed bloody murder.

"Get—get off her! Please! Stop this!" then someone pulled out a gun and hit her with some sort of feathery round. I freaked as Erza fell to the ground with a splutter.

"It's just a tranquilizer," Wally informed me.

"Target obtained. Let's head back," Simon muttered.

"Wait! Just where do you think you're taking Erza?! Give her back!" I yelled in outrage, my magic pouring out and making my hair crackle with energy.

Millania looked at me again and made as if to tighten the bindings but I was already beyond pissed and before she noticed what was happening, someone chucked a very familiar blue cat at her and told her it was her present.

"Oh, yes, Miriana..." Wally said, watching her catch a tied up Happy. "A little present for you."

"Myaa! Kittykittykitty! / Can I keep him?!" She exclaimed happily, pressing Happy against her breasts and rubbing her cheek against him while meowing.

"Miria! Get Erza restrained," Simon said.

I didn't really give them much more time than that because I sprung out from my bindings and yelled my attack, "Celestial Dragon's ROAR!"

But nothing happened as they disappeared and I flopped onto the floor, cursing. I looked down and saw that what I thought had been the rope snapping was actually the rope biting into my stone armor, the pressure snapping some of the stones off.

I growled, "ALL OF YOU CAN JUST GO TO HELL, BASTARDS!"

* * *

It took awhile, but it turned out that one of the guys from the cards had a knife on him and managed to saw through the rope for me.

I caught the scent of the people who had escaped with Erza, and I was snarling by the time I ran out of the room, but then I remembered that somewhere in the Resort Natsu had been shot by that stupid Wally guy.

So I ran around and instead found Gray muttering nasty curses at the Element Four girl who had knocked me out before when I was suffering from the Dragon Fever.

"What the hell is happening here? Why the hell are _you_here? And why are you talking to her so calmly, Gray?!" I demanded, using my best Erza glare and watching as he quivered.

"Please, do not worry...I mean no harm," Juvia said. "Gray-sama was safe here inside Juvia."

My eyes widened. What the hell? "Gray, what the fu—?! You were doing _that_?!"

He went pale and shook his head as fast as possible, "The place went dark all of a sudden... So I made a body substitute to buy a little time, scope out the situation..."

"And so that the trick would not be exposed, Juvia used her Water Lock to protect Gray-sama!"

Gray wheeled on her, "...Which was completely unnecessary! You let them get away!"

I sighed, "Fine whatever, we need to go find Natsu and then go fetch Erza."

I was about to step forward when I heard Gray ask one last question, "By the way, Lucy, what the hell are you _wearing?_"

"Shut the hell up," I grumbled and stomped away.

* * *

We had searched all over the place for Natsu, and I had to end up following my nose back to where we found a pile a rubble, and when I paid closer attention I saw a pink head pop out of it. "OWIIIIIIIIIE!"

"Natsu!" My heart swelled, he was fine! He didn't get shot!

"Buahh!" he spat. "Who the hell shoots lead balls into people's mouths?! HUH?! That freaking HURT! I could've been really injured, y'know!"

"Yes, well, I think a _normal_ person would be more than injured..." I muttered, so he _had_been shot.

"Damn that square punk...!" he said, jumping around angrily. I could have knocked him out for being so stupid.

Then suddenly it was as if a light turned on in him and he took off, "YOU'RE NOT GETTIN' AWAAAAAAAAAY!"

I chased after him like hell was on my heels, the skirt of the dress flopping behind me as I kept pace with Natsu, "Come on, you idiot! We need to get our revenge and get Happy and Erza back!"

I guess my confession and kiss would have to wait still.


	18. Chapter 18

How I got myself into stupid situations where I ended up battling some such powerful wizard or other was beyond me, but I guess I would learn to anticipate it considering the bunch of people I associated myself with in Fairy Tail.

Somehow, during all the mayhem, and the revealing of Erza's past to us, we had all gotten separated and that resulted in my getting stuck with the very same woman who had captured me and taken me as a hostage to Phantom Lord in the first place.

To say that there were no hard feelings would be a gross lie on my part, but I was willing to work with her if it meant getting out of this mess.

I was getting pretty quickly though, after running around, yelling for Natsu and Happy, completely pissed that he had abandoned me so quickly and gone running off without so much as a battle plan.

Honestly, did all the advice I give him about what it meant to become an S-Class Wizard just go in one ear and float out the other?!

I wanted to throw something. At him, preferably.

Sometimes, Natsu was the absolute most obtuse person on earth.

Then the most horrifying noise in the world practically ruptured my eardrums. I feel to the ground, covering my ears and closing my eyes shut, feeling the screeching noise as it shuddered straight through to my bones.

When it finally ceased, I was beyond annoyed and pissed and enraged.

Especially when I felt blood dripping out of my ears and down my cheek, leaving a sticky red trail.

I opened my eyes and was met with the smirking, wannabe-self-important face of some guy with long ass hair, no apparent regard for proper clothing choice and a huge ass guitar.

So, I gave him The Stone Maiden welcome.

"HEY, JACKASS, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" I screeched and winced at the sound of my own voice hurting my tender ears.

He flashed a huge grin; his long tongue flopped out of his mouth as he made an attempt to speak.

But really, it was all part of my awesome plan.

Well, maybe not the disgusting tongue—nah, he could've kept that filthy, dripping muscle to himself. I sure as hell didn't want to know where the hell it had been.

Right as he started going on a tirade I gave Juvia a significant look as I channeled magic through the stones of the cavern we were in and did my best at calling my magic towards me once it had latched onto the archway. It was a weird sort of feeling, to feel your magic almost materialize and attach to something as millions of little gold strands that only you could feel. And then mentally giving those strands a good yank? Yeah, that was freaky as hell the first time I started doing it.

It was with a rather anticlimactic crashing and booming sound that the ceiling caved in on him.

When the dust settled, I glowered at the pile of rubble, daring the stupid idiot to get up and try fighting again with my eyes.

I clucked my tongue testily when it didn't move.

"Dumbass, getting in the way of my goals," I growled, then looked around the cavern and cursed, kicking a tiny piece of rubble with my foot.

Juvia flinched.

Good, she could realize that I wasn't to be messed with.

When I couldn't find what I was looking for I grasped my hair with one hand, all while a steady stream of curses was steadily escaping from my mouth.

How the hell were we going to get out?

* * *

It was pure anticlimax.

I had been griping and driving myself nuts about how the hell to get out of the stupid caved in room, pacing a hole in the ground from all my stomping, magic practically sparking off me in my agitation.

I realized eventually that Virgo could help me tunnel out. So I took out my key and summoned my spirit, a scowl affixed to my face.

I really freaking hated summoning my spirits for help, it almost seemed like I was giving in.

While she was doing that though, Juvia had asked me why I didn't just use my fists to break through the walls—obviously having heard of my strength.

I was haughty in my reply though, "Because I don't want to waste magic unnecessarily when the chances of a battle occurring are very high."

As if I hadn't been channeling magic through my whole body in frustration. Yeah, conservation of magic my freaking ass.

I just didn't want to admit that that was both a great idea and was kind of annoyed that she would only bring that up _after _I had resorted to calling one of my spirits for help.

That was the old Lucy arrogance and pride. Stelliana would've beamed a stone at me for being so stupid.

We found our way out eventually, through no small amount of awkward silence.

Which then led to all of us except Natsu and Erza on a boat, watching all the colors envelop the Tower.

The waves rocked around us, violently tossing us around in the boat like ragdolls, swirling and frothing beneath us, chucking us from place to place on the boat like an awkward dance, bruising knees, palms and shoulders alike.

Something my poor motion sickness couldn't really handle.

And obviously, my first reaction to that was to turn green and flop down.

The urge to puke everything I had ever eaten in my life had never been so great.

* * *

We said goodbye to Erza's old friends—seeing as I had the nasty habit of completely knocking out or somehow getting ill during important dialogues—and then we went back to the guild.

Erza and I were at the very front of our group, with Natsu and Gray lingering a little ways behind us and Juvia was always a couple of inches from Gray in her weird stalker-way.

I was just staring at the clouds as they past overhead, recalling the first few spells Stelliana ever taught me, when I heard Gray whispering to Natsu.

"So, you have a thing for Erza?" he asked, a shuffling sound telling me that he was scurrying away form Juvia again.

My ears perked up and I looked at Erza from the corner of my eyes. When she simply continued whistling a tune and wiping down her dagger I turned my eyes back to the sky.

She couldn't hear it.

Okay, then it was time to enter Lucy Ease-Dropping Mode!

I crossed my arms and focused my eyes on the movement of the clouds and kept walking—a little exercise that Stelliana made me do to improve my balance and to keep aware of my surroundings…though she did do it while chucking junk at me.

"Why the hell would you say that, huh?" Natsu asked petulantly.

"Natsu likes Lucy, duh!" Happy chirped.

"Happy, shut up!" Natsu said, probably grabbing poor Happy and slapping his hand over the blue cat's mouth.

I had to suppress a grin.

A huge grin.

And the restless energy that was bubbling within me.

"Wait, you like that—that Lucy?!" Gray asked, bewildered.

I scowled. What the hell did that mean? Honestly, I knew that I could be scary at times, and before Natsu, I really didn't consider romance like that—but still! What the hell was so revolting about me that would cause Gray to balk like that?

Well, I guess being a Dragon Slayer kind of made me scary in and of itself. Gray likely saw me as a weird female version of Natsu.

Female version of Natsu, I certainly was not.

I, for one, was damn proud of my brain.

Not that Natsu didn't have a brain—he just wasn't in the habit of using it properly, or very often.

"So what if I do? It's not like I'm going to get buddy-buddy with a Popsicle for Brains like you," Natsu snapped.

And of course, that would be the moment when Erza heard the negative comment. And then turned around with a deadly glare.

"Did you boys say something?"

The boys were already arm in arm and giving nervous as hell grins before she even finished her question.

My eyes focused on Natsu, how it seemed as if even his pink hair was trembling.

So I took some small pity on him.

I sighed and touched Erza's arm. "It's fine Erza. They're just being boys, come on. Let's keep walking."

Because even though sometimes he pissed me off and was completely stupid, he was still Natsu. And he still made me smile.

When we finally reached Magnolia, I turned away from everyone else and set off silently, not wanting to bring attention to myself.

After all, I had to start hammering out a new plan to get Natsu.

* * *

It was kind of domestic, staying at Natsu's place and worrying about cleaning and cooking and a whole ton of shit I only ever did for myself before.

But it gave me a strange sense of purpose to do it for someone other than myself.

Not that I was about to go all willy-nilly and abandon my S-Class status to live in domestic bliss.

Hell no.

I liked caring for Natsu and Happy, but that's it.

If someone like Gray were to walk in and try and get me to show them even an ounce of the care and domestic-ness I have for Natsu, then I assure you, they'd end up tossed on the street with five foot steel pole rammed up their ass for being presumptuous.

Eventually, after tidying up as much as I could and setting down the pack that I had taken for what I had thought would be a relaxing vacation, I took a quick shower, twisted my hair up into a reasonable bun and put on a little gift that Erza had given me a bit ago.

They were gloves that covered my elbows, made in this odd black, sturdy material, with metal plates on the tops of my hands. They came with matching boots with a small heel. And what I could only describe as a black cape clasped onto my shoulders by metal spiky things.

Really, I had argued with Erza over their practicality, but she insisted that it was useful. Apparently, if you channeled some magic into it, it could protect you from small projectiles—like small stones—but it was only handed out to certain wizards, and since most people only saw it as a hindrance to movement, they usually blew it off.

I blushed when she gave me a significant look.

It made sense. My movement really didn't need to be more fluid, I mean, I summoned gauntlets and all sorts of organic and celestial armor onto my person, I really didn't think that adding a cape would limit me any more.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Matching it with my usual mid-drift exposing top—today, it was in a dark blue color—and my black skirt.

And of course, my dragon scale Spirit key holder was around my hips as a belt.

I smirked at myself and winked.

I looked pretty damn good.

Soon enough, I found myself at the guild, nodding at the people who greeted me.

And I rolled my eyes when I saw Natsu already punching the crap out of someone, and that person popping up and saying something equally nonsensical.

Turning back around, I looked up and down the length of the bar, frowning when I didn't see Mira wiping down the counter or cleaning some miscellaneous cutlery. It was bizarre, not having the snow haired girl around.

Plus, without her soothing presence, I could only bemoan the freaking pandemonium inside the newly rebuilt guild.

Sure, it was bigger than before, and you would think that would thin out the noise levels, but no. The guild members just seemed to coalesce and concentrate into a condensed ball of noise, regardless of the amount of space they had to spread out in.

Eventually, Erza spotted me from across the room and sat down next to me, handing me a plastic cup filled with a sweet smelling, amber juice.

"You got that new order already? Claudius must be really skilled to work that fast," I noted, taking a sip of the juice and rolling the liquid in my mouth. It was probably one of Mirajane's special tonics.

Erza nodded, "He had ample time to finish it. And I see your wearing the armor I got you, is it not comfortable? This one certainly is."

I grinned at her and gave the air in front of me a quick jab, "Yeah! I really like it. I never really noticed how much I depended on magic guarding my hands from harm on a daily basis, but with this, I can feel the difference! I really appreciate it, Erza."

And right as I was about to get into a conversation about the finer details of armor, a nosy guy popped up between us, yelling about how he had found Titania.

I peeked over his shoulder to look at Erza, who was smiling knowingly. "Oh, you're already here? I must apologize for the unsightly ruckus. You're from Sorcerer Weekly, correct?"

The guy nodded enthusiastically, and I backed away a bit to avoid his flailing limbs. "Yes! My name is Jason! And no problem! This is the raw, natural experience I was looking for!"

I frowned.

Seemed like I was doing that a lot lately.

I waved to Erza over the enthusiastic guy's shoulder and turned on my heel.

But apparently, I drew too much attention to myself by doing that, because immediately, I caught the guy swerving around me and bouncing around like some hyper monster, buzzing questions left and right.

I could only deadpan, "I'm sorry. What was that?"

"Is it true?! Are you the Stone Maiden of Fairy Tail?!"

I paused and glanced at Erza once more, then gave the guy a quick jab as confirmation. "Yes. My name is Lucy. Pleasure to meet you," I murmured with as much ingrained formality as I could.

Media attention really wasn't my thing. By no means.

"Would you mind answering a few questions? Is it true that you made S-class mere weeks after joining the guild? Are you a dragon slayer? How strong are you? What's your favorite food? Would you care to go to the local barbecue place with me?"

I twitched. "Yes, I am S-class ranked. Yes I am the Celestial Dragon Slayer, I could do to get stronger, as everyone else should. My favorite food ice cream. And no thank you, I am a vegetarian. Now if you'll excuse me…"

With that dismissal, the reporter flitted over to his next victim.

I just found Natsu and settled in next to him.

And let my hand bump with his under the table, giving him a soft smile when he aimed those big eyes at me.

Sure, if being blatantly obvious about how I felt about him didn't work, then I could sure as hell work on just being…affectionate.

But what I really didn't expect was how he shrugged his shoulder and shifted his hand to hold mine under the table.

My eyes widened.

Okay, so maybe Natsu wasn't that much of an idiot.

Maybe I did have a better chance at getting through to him than I originally thought.


	19. Chapter 19

The day before the festival, Natsu and I decided that it would be a nice idea to just stay at home and relax. We had been going on a million and one jobs lately, and it was time to just laze about the house like a pair of bums.

No cleaning, no cooking, no running out for anything—just-plain old relaxing at home.

Of course, we came to a hitch in that plan, when we found out there was no food at all.

None.

So our relaxing day turned into rampaging through the house, turning everything around looking for something edible.

I mean, you can't leave two Dragon Slayers without food! That's when we start looking at Happy like some delicious blue barbecue, ready for roasting!

We destroyed quite a lot of things looking for something edible, and when we finally gave up and decided to go find food, it was reluctantly.

"Luce! Come on!" Natsu called out, Happy flying a safe distance from us.

"Going!" I said, running up to him and hoping on his back. He gripped my thighs tightly and I wrapped my arms around his neck. "CHARGE! TO FIND FOOOOOD!"

* * *

When we got home from our little excursion, it was to the mess we had made before we left.

But my belly was comfortably full and all I really wanted to do was sleep, so I didn't really want to yell at Natsu so help clean it up with me.

Both of us yawned our way over to the hammocks, Natsu climbing into his without much trouble, Happy nestling himself into his pink hair.

I picked up my starry night pillow from the ground and hugged it to my chest. I didn't really understand why it was on the ground—but it was.

So, I reached over to my hammock to try and climb into it myself, only to see that it was torn to shreds and laying limply on the ground.

It was kind of in an absent-minded manner that I ended up pulling myself into Natsu's hammock, completely on top of him.

When he mumbled some vague questions, I muttered that my hammock was dead and I was sleeping with him tonight.

* * *

The next morning, I was flush against Natsu's chest, his arm comfortably wound around my back.

I had to resist the urge to nuzzle my cheek against him. Instead, I untangled our legs and pushed myself up and out of the hammock; my face was warm, as I got ready for the day.

Eventually he woke up, loudly complaining about what a mess the house was. (I chucked my boot at his head for that one: no way in hell was he ever going to even _hint_ at telling me to clean the house.)

We picked up a bit, and I mourned my hammock for a little while, before we were completely ready and I had marched over to the entrance of the tiny cottage.

"Come on, Natsu, we have to get ready for Fantasia!" I called out to him, hand propped on my hip, standing by the door.

"Natsu's sloooooow," Happy whined, flying up to nest in my hair.

I scowled and removed him from my hair, "Not today, Happy, I'm trying to look _nice_."

Happy did his best impression of a cat-pout, "But why? It's not like you're not ugly enough as it is."

My eye twitched, "Listen here, _cat_, I'm not ugly!"

"Then why are you arguing with a _cat?!_ Haha! Lucy is stupid!"

Another twitch.

Then I calmed down and set him down on the floor, giving my most angelic smile, "Okay then. Just remember that when I skin you and make a cute pair of boots."

Immediately, Happy sobered up and went flying off to Natsu at light speed.

I calmed down the self-satisfied urge to cackle like the wicked witch I was.

Apparently, every once in a while, Fairy Tail sponsored with huge festival, and people from all across Fiore would come and watch it happen.

Of course, Natsu only wanted to go because of the food, but I had more sinister motivations.

I was finally going to convince him that I was worthy of his love!

…

Okay, now that made me sound like Juvia.

Well, my grand plan wasn't much of a grand plan. I wasn't even competing in the Beauty Contest—in the grand scheme of things, five-hundred thousand Jewel wasn't that important. If anything, I could take a quick job and get just as much money and still keep my dignity in tact.

But then why was I all dolled up?

Because I was giving one last chance to Natsu at noticing me.

It was my last stand!

And if he didn't get it, then I'd have to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate what would make me appealing towards him.

Of course, there was a small depressing part of me that whispered that he might never really notice me. That he might keep on without ever telling me his feelings.

And there was no way in hell that I was going to confess to him. With all my research and romance books, I had learned that it was never the girl who confessed, always the guy.

So, given all that, I had to make sure that Natsu noticed me.

Or else, my love life, as I knew it, was over and I would have to spiral into this huge void of despair and loneliness until the day I died.

Or until I kicked myself and realized that love wasn't everything, and at least I had my Nakama.

"Luce!" Natsu called, swooping to where I was and slinging a muscled arm over my slender shoulders.

I grinned at him, "Yeah, Natsu?"

"Let's go already! There's plenty of food to be had!"

I shook my head at him, pulling a match and a tiny pebble out of my pocket.

His eyes lit up when I struck the match and dangled it in front of him, my teeth already crunching up the pebble in my mouth. Happy hovering carefully behind him, weary.

In the blink of an eye, he made a little 'o' with his mouth and sucked in the fire and gave me his signature dragon grin, fangs out.

I returned it, suddenly hyperaware of my own fangs.

"Alright! Let's go wreak havoc on Magnolia!"

* * *

As life would have it, when we stepped into the impending mayhem that would be the town at festival time, I kind of lost Natsu and Happy in the throng of people.

So I was just left to wander around and tend to my own devices.

The booths that were being set up were interesting, in a kaleidoscope of colors and a wide range of smells and sounds to sample.

It was almost overwhelming; all the things there were to look at, to experience. I wandered over to a small booth that sold sweet dumplings and purchased a few sticks, enjoying the sweet, sticky flavor.

It was really perfect, just being able to relax for a little while and enjoy something as simple as a dumpling.

Before I met Natsu, I had traveled the world and been to all sorts of places. I made myself stronger and smarter, sampled everything the world had to give me, and in trying to get Natsu to acknowledge me, I guess I had forgotten what it was like to just enjoy a nice moment alone.

My thoughts didn't remain peaceful though, because soon enough, everything went to hell.

My ears caught up on a series of people yelling and questioning themselves, in the direction of the guild.

It was probably everyone being stupid again, I frowned; just in case, I asked for a little white paper bag for the rest of my dumplings, then I took off sprinting towards the guild.

What I found was not pretty at all.

The guild's doors were blown wide open and four people stood just outside the opening, talking down to Master and the rest of Fairy Tail, behind them, I could spot stone statues of the girls who had told me would be participating in the beauty contests—even Erza was stone.

"Just _what_ the hell is happening here?" I growled, summoning my stone gauntlets on instinct.

When they wheeled around, I figured out they were immediately. Laxus, and the three cronies that called themselves his bodyguard.

"Ah, the pebble girl is here, I see, " he said, sneering lewdly. "You finally decide to be my woman?"

"Not even in your nightmares, numb nuts," I spat, falling into a battle stance. "I refuse to be one of your sluts."

"That's such a pity. Evergreen, care to do the honors?"

The only girl in the quartet turned towards me, grinning viciously and taking off her oval-shaped glasses.

From inside of the guild, I heard a ton of people yelling at me not to look, Natsu's voice loudest among them.

But I just blankly looked at her, waiting for something to happen.

After a few seconds, I cocked my hip, "Well, that was a really effective spell, I'm quaking in my boots."

The woman gaped at me, "How are you not turned to stone?"

I smirked, "Is that what was supposed to happen? I guess you haven't heard of me. I'm the Celestial Dragon Slayer, _Stone_ Maiden of Fairy Tail."

It was a quirk. You can't turn a dragon slayer into their element: it was a paradox. Dragon Slayers were masters of their magic, and if you could transform them into their element as easily as that, then what was the purpose?

Just as I couldn't be turned into stone or any celestial body, Natsu couldn't be turned into fire. It would upset the magical balance of the world.

Before the woman had a chance to grasp that her trick failed her, I had kicked off from my spot, cocked my arm back and relinquished it straight into her face, smiling angelically when she went careening into the wall of the guild.

"Evergreen! You take care of her! Meet us up at the Cathedral!" called out Laxus, disappearing in a blinding flash of light.

I twisted around, pissed.

Damn, paying attention to one target made the rest disappear.

And when I saw the guild frozen, watching our fight, my temper flared even more, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SISSIES WAITING FOR?! GO DEFEND THE GUILD! GO!"

At that, everyone seemed to let out a battle cry and rush out of the guild, I just looked back at Evergreen, preparing myself for the fight.

I didn't have to wait much, because before I knew it, a series of magical spears were tossed my wait at blinding speeds.

Flipping backwards into the air, I gathered my magic in my chest and let it bleed through my whole body: "Secret Celestial Magic: Celestial Armor!"

And it was like a switch turned on, and all thoughts of love and fluffy things flew out the window: bloodthirsty Lucy was back in control.

Evergreen was doing something now, something that made some sort of dust appear out of nowhere.

From a distance I heard Master talking to Natsu, "Evergreen has picked the worse possible person as her opponent, Lucy can counter almost all of her magic because of her Dragon Slayer status."

"You heard that!" I called out to the woman, the grin never escaping me as the dust combined and exploded right in front of me.

The components of an explosion: stone, dust and some parts fire and soot.

I sucked it all in, feeling my magic power practically double in my veins. Evergreen was gaping at me again, and I outright laughed at her: "Obviously you have never fought a Dragon Slayer! Now take this! DRAGON SLAYER'S CLAW!"

She seemed to come to her senses as I slashed at her, dodging just in time. I pivoted on my heel and followed her, switching into a swift uppercut, catching her underneath her chin and making her fly off again.

This was so one sided.

I frowned, "Are you even trying?"

She coughed, "Don't….DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE TRUE FAIRY QUEEN!"

"Oh shit," I cursed, a volley of needles heading straight for me at a speed that I bet even Erza would have trouble dodging.

My mind worked quickly, and by the time the first few embedded themselves in my arm, I decided that I wasn't going to dodge.

I was going to take her out in one last hit.

Inhaling, I gathered all of my magic in my chest, feeling the ground shake a bit with my effort, before I blew out with all my might, and a giant beam of swirling, celestial magic came hurling out of my body: "CELESTIAL DRAGON'S ROAR!"

It was devastating, I hadn't ever gotten so much power out of my roar, but there it was. Evergreen was knocked out on the ground, a path of destruction where my roar touched.

Sighing, I turned back to the guild and jogged right outside.

It was time to figure out what the hell was wrong.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE TRAPPED IN THERE?!"

"We don't know! Apparently you have to be super old or something, but it won't let me out!"

I ran a hand through my hair—so much for trying to look pretty. "Okay so maybe it's reacting to the fact that Dragon Slaying Magic is practically ancient? And by proxy the enchantment believes you to be ancient as well—yes, it makes sense."

"But we have no other way of proving that theory unless you have another Dragon Slayer try to get out," Master said, nodding along with me.

Then an idea occurred to me when I heard rumbling off behind the bar.

Gajeel from Phantom Lord had come to Fairy Tail, to do what, I have no idea, but he was now a member, and a fellow Dragon Slayer.

"GAJEEL!" I called out, folding my arms over my chest. "Get your lazy ass out from behind that bar and come help us!"

"Why should I, blondie?!"

"Cause if not I'll make sure you don't get any Iron till the next _century!_"

"Damn! Fine, blondie, get your panties out of a twist," he grumbled stomping over to the barrier.

"What the hell was that?!" I screamed, my hair flying up with magic.

Natsu was chuckling, "Yeah Lucy. Fix your panties."

Happy, however, already knew my threat to him and wisely hid behind Master.

Shaking my gauntlet at him I snarled, "What the hell was that, Pinkie?! YEAH! Didn't think so!"

Sometimes, Natsu was an infuriating idiot and I wanted to strangle the crap out of him.

Lovingly, of course.

Sometimes I hated him so much, I was pretty sure that I was completely in love with him in some messed up way.

My theory was proven when Gajeel finally got his lazy as up and made to walk through the barrier but was completely blocked.

I frowned.

"Okay, so that proves my theory, more or less. Now, how the hell do we break through the enchantment?" I asked, thinking to myself and pacing.

"Uh, Lucy—"

"Not now, Natsu."

I kept walking.

"But Lucy!"

My teeth gnashed together, "I said not now—OOMPH!"

"See, if you had listened to me, you would've figured out that you walked right inside the barrier."

"Thanks a lot Natsu," I scowled.

* * *

Turned out, that we didn't need to wait that long, because soon enough, Erza and the others all unfroze, thankfully. But then all the enchantment display boards switched into a skull and filled the guild up to the brim.

And Laxus coming up and saying that he was activating the Thunder Palace.

My eyes widened, as Master convulsed and fell.

It was a complete mess.

"How—how the hell are we going to get out of this?" I whispered.

"Using brute force," Natsu assured me, squeezing my shoulder then taking off running to the enchantment barrier.

I frowned and caught him by the back of his scarf, pulling him back to my side to the sound of loud choking and gagging noises.

"Use your brain: this is written magic, right? Shouldn't Levy be able to break through this?" I asked him gently, fixing his scarf for him again.

His eyes lit up, "That's perfect Lucy! Let's go find Levy! I'm sure she can fix this mess!"

And so began our quest to try and overcome the enchantments on the guild to go kick Laxus' ass.


End file.
